Hi, I have always been dreaming of having chickens, but my family said "No!" I told advantage of a couple weeks here when it was difficult to get eggs and talked everyone into allowing a "small number" of chicks and so instead of 3 chicks, I picked up 5 from a local farm. I am not new to birds as I have had all sorts of domestic ones including green chickens -- Amazon parrots. So I picked up 2 Blue Australorps, 2 EE, and 2 RIR. Meantime, we built a hoop coop which took quite a while and put wheels on it. My 7 and 10 year old kids loove them to death and have named them Fluffbutt (BA), Cosmo (BA), Beep (EE), Fearless (EE), Scarlet (RIR), and Chirp (RIR). Of course, I wanted more chickens because 5 is not enough for this family of 5, so I had to get 3 more 1 week old baby chicks Black Australorps (Pastry, Frosting, and Shrimp), and 2 Barred Rock (Doughball and Doughnut) chicks a month later. Can you guess my kids named all the chickens?
Meantime one of the Blue Australorps decided to become a Roo so I took it back and asked for 3 to replace it, since we are only allowed hens here. Apparently 1 = 3? I couldn't pass up exchanging it for another Blue Australorp (, Barnevelder, and Lavender Orpington. Couldn't resist adding new breeds! They told me they were all flockmates on their farm so I thought adding these 6/7week olds wouldn't be a problem, but my established pullets are chasing them away! There hasn't been bloodshed, but this is day 2. I did already quarantine for 3 weeks. What do I do? I thought since they all are still pullets they would integrate a little easier.
The hoop coop is 8x10 with a large run attached with citrus and fig trees.
Currently, established flock of five 9 week-old pullets.
1 BA
2 EE
2 RIR
Newbies (same age maybe 8 weeks)
1 Barnevelder
1 BA
In brooder, 4 week olds:
2 BR
3 Black Australorps
1 newbie Lavender Orp.
I thought integration would be easier, but the oldies keep chasing the newbies away from both food areas. I have seen some pecking, but not too bad. The newbies keep away from the oldies. They do sleep together okay in the brooder, except the Barnevelder sleeps separate. Should I wait it out and let them work it out? Just add more feeding stations? Or should I build a separate run and small coop? What do you suggest for a makeshift coop for 2 birds? I have fencing wire and cattle panel, but I am hesitant to cut up the cattle panel. I do have PVC, maybe I can make a tiny coop and cover with HC.
And as for the chicks, the Lavender Orpington is more their age so I just added her with the others who are 4 week old. She seems somewhat isolated and I was surprised they did initially peck at her. Should I do more of a formal integration? I assumed because they were young it was okay to just put them together.
Thank you everyone for reading this! It is quite the addiction!!
Liz
Meantime one of the Blue Australorps decided to become a Roo so I took it back and asked for 3 to replace it, since we are only allowed hens here. Apparently 1 = 3? I couldn't pass up exchanging it for another Blue Australorp (, Barnevelder, and Lavender Orpington. Couldn't resist adding new breeds! They told me they were all flockmates on their farm so I thought adding these 6/7week olds wouldn't be a problem, but my established pullets are chasing them away! There hasn't been bloodshed, but this is day 2. I did already quarantine for 3 weeks. What do I do? I thought since they all are still pullets they would integrate a little easier.
The hoop coop is 8x10 with a large run attached with citrus and fig trees.
Currently, established flock of five 9 week-old pullets.
1 BA
2 EE
2 RIR
Newbies (same age maybe 8 weeks)
1 Barnevelder
1 BA
In brooder, 4 week olds:
2 BR
3 Black Australorps
1 newbie Lavender Orp.
I thought integration would be easier, but the oldies keep chasing the newbies away from both food areas. I have seen some pecking, but not too bad. The newbies keep away from the oldies. They do sleep together okay in the brooder, except the Barnevelder sleeps separate. Should I wait it out and let them work it out? Just add more feeding stations? Or should I build a separate run and small coop? What do you suggest for a makeshift coop for 2 birds? I have fencing wire and cattle panel, but I am hesitant to cut up the cattle panel. I do have PVC, maybe I can make a tiny coop and cover with HC.
And as for the chicks, the Lavender Orpington is more their age so I just added her with the others who are 4 week old. She seems somewhat isolated and I was surprised they did initially peck at her. Should I do more of a formal integration? I assumed because they were young it was okay to just put them together.
Thank you everyone for reading this! It is quite the addiction!!
Liz
Glad you joined.
