Ella2025's Experiment Broody Hen Hatch-A-Long

[ella2025]

Today is Saffrons official hatch day. So he's 3 weeks old and Pepper is 2 weeks and 6 days. Ill start introducing them to BSFL and scratch grain now. Their beaks were too tiny before!

Why do chicks start dust bathing the moment I put them on the grass? They were outside the entirety of the morning, just not on grass (they had sand), and the second saffrons feet touched the grass he flipped down and started dust bathing and pepper joined. They did the exact same thing last time I took them on grass . Same thing with all the chicks I've raised before.

Here is a pic of the chick puddle and one of Skedoosh's eggs (saffrons mom) for size comparison.

 

[redinator]

Today is Saffrons official hatch day. So he's 3 weeks old and Pepper is 2 weeks and 6 days. Ill start introducing them to BSFL and scratch grain now. Their beaks were too tiny before!

Why do chicks start dust bathing the moment I put them on the grass? They were outside the entirety of the morning, just not on grass (they had sand), and the second saffrons feet touched the grass he flipped down and started dust bathing and pepper joined. They did the exact same thing last time I took them on grass . Same thing with all the chicks I've raised before.

Here is a pic of the chick puddle and one of Skedoosh's eggs (saffrons mom) for size comparison.
View attachment 4235032

Mine like to 'dust bathe' in mud. They have dry places to dust bathe all over the yard, but I generally find the majority in a wet patch of dirt made by a dripping hose connection.

 

[ella2025]

Mine like to 'dust bathe' in mud. They have dry places to dust bathe all over the yard, but I generally find the majority in a wet patch of dirt made by a dripping hose connection.

Exactly! My big chickens like finding the least sandy, rock hard soil (that is also moist) in the run and dust bathe there. They never dust bathe in the clean fluffy sand that covers 90% of the run LOL

 

[ella2025]

6 Week update
They are both pretty much fully feathered! Peppers feet went from pink to green and now to teal/greenish slate. Their chick fluff muffs fell off last week and they grew their big chicken muffs! Pepper's still aren't done but saffrons is nice and fluffy.

OUR FIRST PREDATOR ATTACK HAPPENED TODAY!!! We had a hawk attack on our super secure run right before I got home (my dad heard the flock screaming and went out and saw everything), and all the big chickens went in the coop. I think the hawk was either a juvenile red tail or a Cooper's hawk. It wasn't very big. These 2 were in their little chick cage in the run, so couldn't run into the coop and hide and were like 2 inches away (separated by 2 layers of hardware cloth) from the outside of the run where the hawk was attacking. They panicked and flew around and tried climbing up the walls of their little cage while the hawk tried unsuccessfully to flap, spur, claw, bite them through the 2 layers of hardware cloth. So they have a few scratches/minor wounds from scraping on hardware cloth but thankfully not directly from the hawk. The hawk didn't come back again yet but it will probably try again and again. I'm not super worried because I haven't been free ranging recently and our run is so secure that unless that hawk was a flying bear, it will never succeed at eating my chickens!!

Anyway, I let them out of their little cage in the run today after 5 or so days of see and no touch with the almost all laying pullet/adult flock. There were some small pecking order things that happened between the 4 pullets and these 2, but no fast chasing or major fights. I left them out there and will put them in the coop when it gets dark.

 

[ella2025]

Pepper looks a lot bluer than she was when she first feathered. She looks a lot like Saffron now. I still dont know who her mom is. Maybe Billy the black Easter egger.