Hi there!

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oliverj102

oliverj102

Songster
7 Years
Jul 14, 2014
78
34
119
Hi everyone!

When I was younger my parents keeps chickens and ducks, now that I've got my own family I decided to continue the tradition and have made a large chicken enclosure and home built hen coop. Until today I had 7 white sussex hens and a rooster, at about 10 weeks old, today I've added 6 PoL brown hens to the flock to complete it, fingers crossed day 2 is more social then day 1! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions before I see my first egg!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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So glad you could join our community! Have you stopped by our learning center yet? Lots of good articles on all the aspects of keeping your new flock...https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Make yourself at home here and if you do have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. Welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm a chicken person and don't know much about ducks (although I've had a few), but I have to admit that ducklings are the ultimate in cute. If you are getting ducks, definitely take advantage of our duck experts at https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks. Sussex are a great breed; hardy, friendly and gentle (my children made lap pets of ours), and good layers of large, brown eggs. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
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Glad you joined us!

Feel free to ask lots of questions! We're all here to help.
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Good luck with your chickens!
 
I'm guessing that your introduction of the hens to your younger birds did not go well. You need advice on integrating new birds with old - there is a very strong pecking order among chickens. Those that don't fill in right end up getting feather picked, bullied etc.

Generally you do not mix younger birds with older(larger) until the youngsters are close to the same size. You partition off the coop and run, so that both sides can see each other but, not cause any harm.

After some time like this, they will start ignoring each other. Then you can try having them loose in the same area while you supervise.
 
Day 2 went well for my feathered friends.

I had already decided this morning to give the chicks some personal space so I set up a wall across the middle of the enclosure with a door in the middle big enough for a chick but not an adult. After a few head on collisions with the netting the chicks learnt how it worked! Today they spent the whole day more or less unsupervised, with the chicks going in convoys out to get water and food which was ignored for the most part by the brown hens.

Funny anecdote for you: I was worried that they would not get on well in the coop last night so while it was going dark I went out with some timber and climbed in the chicken house (Yes I made it that BIG!!) and set up a wall to partition off the nesting boxes for the chicks to relax. I didn't realise the chicks saw me go in and stealthily started darting past the adults to come see me. When I was done I looked in the pen through the vent to see the chickens and couldn't see any chicks! I was panicked! I turned round to jump out and find them when i heard a "tweet tweet". As I was perched on the ground all the chicks had gone UNDER ME! and made a nest like they did with the mother hen we got them from! By this point the brown hens where at the door staring at me like I was a giant rooster about to clobber them. Today the adults have been far more docile with the chicks (especially when I am near which is funny) and they seem to be tolerating them when they come out into the same area.

Im worried for the rooster as he is still young but at the rate they are growing they will be the same size as the brown hens in 6 weeks and by god can the sussex move fast and furious when they need to! I saw one today get a full throttle charge from a brown hen, the chick flew backwards over a second hen, ducked under the coop ramp, flew over another hen and got straight in the chick area with no contact from the adult at all! I have to admit I was proud of the little chick!
 

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