Concerned with new chicks

[Sono]

Today I evicted the littles out to the coop. Its been in the 80s+ and will continue, been calling for thunderstorms since last friday but nothing....until tonight. The chicks are fully featherd and weened off the heat for a few weeks already. I put them in the coop early this morning and watching them all day and were doing good, getting along with the mature hens as well ( got rid of 2 roos yeaterday so only one roo in the coop still but soon to be gone as well ) anyways, the new chicks did well, they are using their water rail and eating from the feeder, no fighting of any sorts. Til tonight, a massive thunderstorm finally hit, filled the pond nearly instantly, flooded the yard which its never done before. So I threw on my gear to go check on everything for their first night out. I couldnt find them, nowhere in the coopm nowhere in the run, looked in the coop again, looked in the run again and WHOA !!!! All 9 of the babies were huddled together in a corner where the mature hens dug a hole so they blended in and looked just like the wet surrounding mulch. So I gathered them all up and put them in the coop ( told them they were idiots too ) as they were going in and out of the coop earlier today with no issues. So now, their are 9 wet babies in the dry coop with 6 mature dry hens and a roo.... so hopefully they stay warm and dry off in the dry bedding inside... I was soaked to my underwear when I came back inside... wow that rain is driving !

 

[SmiYa0126]

Today I evicted the littles out to the coop. Its been in the 80s+ and will continue, been calling for thunderstorms since last friday but nothing....until tonight. The chicks are fully featherd and weened off the heat for a few weeks already. I put them in the coop early this morning and watching them all day and were doing good, getting along with the mature hens as well ( got rid of 2 roos yeaterday so only one roo in the coop still but soon to be gone as well ) anyways, the new chicks did well, they are using their water rail and eating from the feeder, no fighting of any sorts. Til tonight, a massive thunderstorm finally hit, filled the pond nearly instantly, flooded the yard which its never done before. So I threw on my gear to go check on everything for their first night out. I couldnt find them, nowhere in the coopm nowhere in the run, looked in the coop again, looked in the run again and WHOA !!!! All 9 of the babies were huddled together in a corner where the mature hens dug a hole so they blended in and looked just like the wet surrounding mulch. So I gathered them all up and put them in the coop ( told them they were idiots too ) as they were going in and out of the coop earlier today with no issues. So now, their are 9 wet babies in the dry coop with 6 mature dry hens and a roo.... so hopefully they stay warm and dry off in the dry bedding inside... I was soaked to my underwear when I came back inside... wow that rain is driving !

The things we do for our chickens

 

[Sono]

Today they seemed to have learned that they can go and come as they please in the coop. All seems well now. They were still inside and dry this morning and ventured outside this afternoon mingling with their elders.

 

[Sono]

Well, I rehomes the 2 biggest Roos last month and still had one left with no takers. This one was tearing up the backs of all the hens as every time I turned around he was mating one or the other? So 2 weeks ago I evicted him, hoping he would join the free ranging neighbors flock.... NOPE. he has stayed in the field and around the coop just scratching around, drinking from the pond...ect What I have noticed since he has been evicted is..... the neighbors entire flock of chickens, ginnys, Turkey....everything has not been over here since he has been " free ranging" our property. So, did he stake claim to his territory? I did find some feathers but they are not his... so I assume he ran them off and happy that he did so since I dont have to talk with the neighbor to keep their flock on their property now since they were getting to be a nuisance crapping on everything and everywhere ( porch, picnic tables, grill...ect... ) seems like it was a win-win