Excellent description!
I let my meaties out the top gate into our front yard for a wander. I also had my 2 week old chicks in a chicken tractor for an hour whilst the sun came out and I could clean their box.
There was an electric moment when they eyed each other through the hardwire. It was a real parent -child moment for half of them if they'd only realized it. And of course that delightful thing where the adults go pecking through the chick poo leftovers -yuk!
I have a 3 day old squirt called Cracker - a female mistral gris that I am putting in the box with the others in careful doses. She is the only one that made it out of the egg -I think I need to change the wafer, the temp swung wildly in the last day, Grr! Anyway she runs around them wildly now, avoiding their feet pretty well and pecking the food out of their mouth. They are so patient with her, its lovely to watch. I have a large cardboard refrigerator box I got from sears and modified. They have a long pole going through it 2/3 of the way up and it's so sweet watching them roosting on it or walking the plank or using it to leap up to the top edge. Can't wait til the weather gets better and they can stay outside longer!
I let my meaties out the top gate into our front yard for a wander. I also had my 2 week old chicks in a chicken tractor for an hour whilst the sun came out and I could clean their box.
There was an electric moment when they eyed each other through the hardwire. It was a real parent -child moment for half of them if they'd only realized it. And of course that delightful thing where the adults go pecking through the chick poo leftovers -yuk!

I have a 3 day old squirt called Cracker - a female mistral gris that I am putting in the box with the others in careful doses. She is the only one that made it out of the egg -I think I need to change the wafer, the temp swung wildly in the last day, Grr! Anyway she runs around them wildly now, avoiding their feet pretty well and pecking the food out of their mouth. They are so patient with her, its lovely to watch. I have a large cardboard refrigerator box I got from sears and modified. They have a long pole going through it 2/3 of the way up and it's so sweet watching them roosting on it or walking the plank or using it to leap up to the top edge. Can't wait til the weather gets better and they can stay outside longer!