chicks and big sis' playing nice!

[kareninthesun]

Well, yesterday I sucked it up: the chickens have a two story type coop we built, the bottom open and meshed in hardware on four sides, has a large long roost in that area. The ramp leads to their sleeping/nesting (when ready) quarters. I've been taking lots of time with the youngest (hatched mid to late July) in incorporating/blending them w/the other girls (most hatched late May). I built a pen to house the babes when they were ready outside so they could eyeball and get used to each other. Gradually weaned them into their future sleeping spaces in the coop by dividing it in half upstairs with a walled net stapled of simple chicken wire. Big enough for them all to reach through if they wanted to, but kept 'em safe. I've been struggling on how best to best remove the Berlin wall, then it hit me that I could do what I did with their pen: snip out an access 'door' only big enough for the youngsters to fit through, that way they could scurry back to their protective area if they wanted, or make nice with the big girls. Much to my delight, when I looked outside, they were ALL out on the bottom floor, so the youngsters went through the hole, then made their way down the ramp. Some of 'em were actually around the older girls, and no one was stressed out, even the rest of the youngsters weren't huddled together in a mass of fear. I was so proud of them all! They must have had a family meeting, because once free ranging, NONE of the younger were being pursued/hunted down/repremended to mind their manners. There was lots of happy peeping when they all gathered around two food stations and two water stations. Amazing! They remind me of children sometimes, always do better than I hoped or expected.

 

[Sonic Pug]

Congrats. You spent a lot of time managing your flock so I'm glad it paid off!

 

[kareninthesun]

bringing chickens into the whole of our family unit is interesting (putting it short and sweet). Do not for a moment regret it. I'm due for a four day weekend the end of October (there will be trusted adults in place staying to care for them), but what I'm meandering in sharing here is that I've thought long and hard over this, and am going to use this as a subject matter in balancing human relationships and both long term/short termed in planning, daily care, and long term benefits. There are so many positive re-enforcements that do not run contrary, including immediate community giftings, and plain old faith and trust in paying each forward, expecting nothing in return, not to mention identifying preditors - and how learning of such is important in the maintanance and health of the flock, individual personalities, and different obsticles according to age. The more I learn, the less I know, and the less I know, the more delighted I am in wanting to share, both by word of mouth and by basket and feather. Since there will be close to 200 folk listening in and hopefully not trying to sneak off or nod for a quick nap, I'm also thinking about formulating a series of questions for those here in garnering assistance, or perhaps read/evaluate what I write?