I haven't noticed any scoby on it yet. We have well water. I will wait until I see a film before feeding.Does your FF have a skim of darker or lighter film on it when you stir it in the morning? If so, you have a scoby growing and it's okay to feed. No film, give it time...could be you are using city water and it may take a bit longer to establish some LABs.
Yes, I place chicks with adults. It all has to do with space...my birds free range at all times, so their only true contact with the chicks are at feeding time and they usually don't see chicks that small as any kind of competition. When they get a little older and are crowding into the bird's eating space they might get a light peck now and again to get them out of their face..but they can completely take over the feeder if they outnumber the older birds...as in these pics:
At that point they actually NEED a peck on the head to get them out of one's mouth while eating!If I had the birds in a coop and run situation, it would probably be a different story as I would have bored and cranky older birds confined to a space with a bunch of youngsters..and even in the human world that is a recipe for disaster. The chicks are not going to know or recognize social cues or pecking orders while really young and they would get underfoot all day long.
With the big open world to explore and the older birds rarely being in the coop, the chicks have a safe haven from which to learn the outside world...they will first forage around the coop and as they get older they venture out more and more to other areas of safety from aerial predators. In this way they are slowly introduced to the alarm calls of the rooster, they can mimic the actions of the older birds when they forage and they also have their own social structure that is separate from the flock. My 6 mo. old birds still have their own separate flock from the older flock and they have been integrated with them since their 2nd week. Those two flocks will truly blend when the pullets become sexually active and the rooster takes interest in them...until then they are still a flock apart.
Chicks as old as yours are fully big enough to integrate~even in a coop and run situation~ and to keep each other warm, though you might have to harden them off if you have been heating them up with a heat lamp each night. You can place a lamp in one corner of the coop~doubly secured so that no matter what happens it cannot be knocked down~and they will warm themselves as they see fit. Turn it off in the day and only keep it out there for a week, then no more. By then they should have hardened off to the cold and be able to keep one another warm. Nice dry bedding and the lamp~not close to the bedding floor~should help them adjust to the coop temps.
Space and breed temperaments count for so very much. I cull for temperament in my flocks, so no bully hens live long enough to come in contact with chicks. Space away from the birds and their only contact being at feeding time gives the youngsters an education on the pecking order at the feeder but not getting chased relentlessly by older, cranky hens.
For everyone reluctant to cull a chicken due to being "tender-hearted", remember what that really looks like when a chick is hurt because a nasty hen was not eliminated due to her bully behavior. Culling is the single most necessary tool in a person's arsenal to develop a thriving, healthy, peaceful flock. Otherwise it's just one sad tale after another while the tender-hearted cry and can't figure out WHY.
And that's the main difference between having chickens and keeping chickens...one is merely some birds in a pen/coop that someone feeds and collects some eggs for awhile~while having one issue after another with bullying, illness and laying issues~ and the other is a well managed flock that lives in harmony, thrives and produces without excess drama and lives to a ripe old age laying eggs and having a happy life.
I don't seem to have any bullies, except maybe one. I know when I added some to the coop this summer there would be a commotion now and again and she seemed to be the instigator. But I haven't heard anything from her for a while. Mine free range also, so they have plenty of room. I may try that this weekend. I've only been putting the light on them when it gets in the 40's-low 50's. This time of year, it isn't cold in the coop. We can close the windows at night too. What about feed? I'm getting ready to feed the adults their ff and these chicks have been on chickstarter ff for a couple of weeks. Do I feed separately? Thanks Beekissed!
