Ok Folks I need some advice. I let the four 11 week old chicks in with the adults in the run today. Mom was among the pack and surprisingly they all did very well. I let mom go back with the adults last week. She was ready and she has also started laying eggs again....... Yeah !!!!! I sat outside with them for nearly two hours watching them and was ready to intervene if all hell broke loose. I couldn't believe what an easy transition it was. There was a few little brawls with some of the adult hens but it was very minimal (I wonder if the hens know that they are their offspring..) Anyway I held off letting the Rooster in with them because I was not sure what he would do having four new chicks around but I finally let him in and He was a pure Saint...never once did he get agressive with them and he acted like he had known them his whole life. I'm so proud of him. ( I wonder if he knows that He is their father ?) Ok the first day with the adults was successful !! After all the adults went in to roost, I moved the babys in the main coop for the first time. It was a relief to put them all together but when I went out to check on them the babys were not in the coop but instead huddled up in a corner on the ground. I have a chicken house and a attatched enclosed run so they are protected from predators. My "bird-ma-hal is like Fort Knox.(It is all enclosed.) They have been sleeping in a brooder box since birth so they have never been on a roost or with other chickens. Will they eventually go inside and join the others or will I have to teach them how to roost ? The weather has been nice enough that I'm not too concerned yet about the elements but they will have to learn to roost inside soon. What have you guys and gals had to do in this situation ??? Some advice would be great. Thanks. Mona the queen... I might add that they had a broken shovel handle that they would roost on during the day so they know what a roost is for....they have had practice..
I would think you're going to have to "teach them." I would try actually setting them on the roosts, and shutting the chicken door so they can't get back outside (if you're sure that the olders are okay with them...
I tried putting them on the roost tonight and they wouldn't stay. So I just shut them in with the others. I hated leaving them in the dark but atleast they will awake with the adults in the morning. I will have to get up early to open the door before all hell breaks loose. Its not a small coop but for 13 birds it gets kind of crowded. They're used to having the door open and they come out as soon as it turns light. so....your right...I may have to keep locking them in until thry know that it is not so bad after all. Thanks to the one and only person who responded.
My adult birds figured it out on their own, without any feathered role models. I hope that my new babies figure it out as well. I'd just do what you're doing and hope that they'll learn by example. You could try going out there with a flashlight with a red lense on it (sold in the hunting stores or make your own) after dark and put them on the roost -- so that there is not enough light for them to see to jump back down.
My batch of babies insisted on snuggling together in the nest boxes, so I have had to literally block off the nest boxes overnight to force them onto the roosting area. They are slowly using the roost, but not the one next to the *big* chickens. Their's is on the opposite side of the coop.
