First night and day in with the big girls {PICS}

[firedove]

Tonight I put my 11 week old chicks in with the big girls for the night. I'm so nervous for them. The chicks and big girls have met outside foraging and they seemed OK in the evening when I introduced the little ones to the coop. There was a little pecking but nothing serious. The biggest problem was my roo trying to mount one of the babies! My chicks are about half the size of the full grown girls, bigger than my small banty and about the same as my larger banty. I'm anxiously awaiting first light so I can go check on them! Should be getting light soon, but it's delayed today due to it being very overcast. I'm getting more and more nervous with every passing minute!

 

[Cetawin]

Ah go sneak a peek on them. I did. My girls thought I was nuts because their first night in the coop I was down there every hour or so checking on them. LOL They forgave me.

 

[firedove]

It's starting to get light out and I went down to look in on them. The little ones are all piled in a corner but seem to be doing OK. The big girls aren't interested in coming off the roost yet since it's still just dawning here.

 

[firedove]

It's cloudy today and actually getting darker as time goes by instead of lighter. I've checked a couple of times already and the chickens still aren't waking up and coming off the roost.

 

[Cetawin]

LOL spoiled chickens. Mine are that way too..they figure "Hey we got a radio, nice warm dry coop...why be bothered with wet weather and yuck outside"

If the babies are piled in a corner...make sure they have some extra heat then...they may be too cold for them still and they will suffocate the ones on the bottom of the pile.

 

[firedove]

Everyone is up now. The big girls and roo came down and virtually ignored all the chickies. There wasn't even a fuss when the chicks joined the big girls at the waterer! The big girls and roo are locked out of the coop now to go forage or spend the day in or under the barn. I don't want to let the little ones out until I can be sure they know that the coop is home and will return there.

I'm so happy that the transition from garage to coop went smoothly. I think they were huddled out of fear more than cold. The coop is no colder than the garage and the chicks were fine in the garage. All are doing great and looking around the coop for new things to check out.

 

[firedove]

Day one went well. Around 1pm I opened up the coop so the whole group could wander in and out. The big rooster Thunder kept all the big girls out for the majority of the day, even when the door was open. The older group seems to have accepted sharing their space without a fuss. The little ones fit under the nesting boxes so I have been putting food under there for them off and on all day so that there wouldn't be any feeder issues just yet. I'll probably keep doing that until they are a couple of weeks older and more able to get their place in the pecking order without getting hurt real bad.

I just closed them up for the night, all the older group were up on their usual roost and the little ones were wandering about on the floor. The little ones seem much less scared after a day in the coop so hopefully they will be more comfortable sleeping tonight.

Here are some pics from today:

Most of them keeping to the corner around 2pm today

Another shot of the favorite corner. In this pic are Goldie, Wildfire, Snow, Moon Tides, Misty, Sleet and Tempest, with Flashover and Nugget making partial appearances in the lower corners.

Nugget settled in

Sea Foam and Ocean

And Ocean by him/herself (comb and wattles say pullet, feathers say cockerel)

ETA: have you ever noticed how you don't realize how dirty your coop is until you take pics?!

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

Quote:
It looks fine to me, Anyway, I was too busy looking at your beautiful chicks!!