I'm looking for suggestions on when I can integrate these chicks (& mom) with the other adults.
Tiny flock: 1 roo, 2 hens, one of whom is a bantam & hatched & raised 4 chicks in an adjoining coop & run, visible to the others. Mom & chicks are still living in it. Chicks now 9 wks old & taller than their bantam mom (they're standards).
Chicks & mom started spending time out in the chicken yard at 2.5 wks, first just themselves, then sectioned off from the other two adults for a week... but now, for the past couple of weeks, all together for a few hours to most of the day. Mom & chicks still hang around together 95% of the time. Oh, and the little family has spent 40 min here or there in the adults' coop; mom takes them in while the adults are dust bathing outside, but the adults have popped in on them a few times - roo likes to stay in, head hen stares or stalks & pecks a little, ignores, or just walks out.
Head hen occasionally walks over & pecks one or two chicks (one or two times, nothing major) while they're all outside, but on these hot days I think she's just can't afford to care much. Plus the yard is plenty big for separation. She does have a history of being Very bossy with newcomers over the years however.
The roo has been nice with them, Except... for the past week he's started to try to mate with one (or more?) of the chicks. I'm afraid of that because of the size difference. Of course, he's frustrated, having only one adult hen, & now, finally, his second adult hen back occasionally. His spurs have a dull, point-in-progress at this time.
Mom - well, she does get pecked occasionally by the head hen... unless the roo mounts her, at which time the head hen runs over and gives her a good few pecks (ugh!!)! (I've sometimes stopped the hen from doing this.)
The roo and head hen are standard size, & still much larger than the chicks.
So... Any suggestions on when I can take down the screen wall & rejoin the coops (adding a perpendicular 10.5 ft in length), & let the chicks into the big coop and roost? The way the adult roost is laid out, I wouldn't be able to "fence off" an area for the little family to use to ease their way in without blocking the doorway.
*A final note: out of the 4 chicks, I think I'll be lucky if I end up with 1 hen... and then the roos will have to go
So, all this for maybe 1 addition to the flock. : /
*Pics: First 2 are today, in adult coop. #3: head hen giving the stink eye at little family dust bathing yesterday. #4: H hen leaving them alone, foraging. #5: In adult coop. #6: H hen dust bathing behind them. Mom looks taller standing on water tub.
Tiny flock: 1 roo, 2 hens, one of whom is a bantam & hatched & raised 4 chicks in an adjoining coop & run, visible to the others. Mom & chicks are still living in it. Chicks now 9 wks old & taller than their bantam mom (they're standards).
Chicks & mom started spending time out in the chicken yard at 2.5 wks, first just themselves, then sectioned off from the other two adults for a week... but now, for the past couple of weeks, all together for a few hours to most of the day. Mom & chicks still hang around together 95% of the time. Oh, and the little family has spent 40 min here or there in the adults' coop; mom takes them in while the adults are dust bathing outside, but the adults have popped in on them a few times - roo likes to stay in, head hen stares or stalks & pecks a little, ignores, or just walks out.
Head hen occasionally walks over & pecks one or two chicks (one or two times, nothing major) while they're all outside, but on these hot days I think she's just can't afford to care much. Plus the yard is plenty big for separation. She does have a history of being Very bossy with newcomers over the years however.
The roo has been nice with them, Except... for the past week he's started to try to mate with one (or more?) of the chicks. I'm afraid of that because of the size difference. Of course, he's frustrated, having only one adult hen, & now, finally, his second adult hen back occasionally. His spurs have a dull, point-in-progress at this time.
Mom - well, she does get pecked occasionally by the head hen... unless the roo mounts her, at which time the head hen runs over and gives her a good few pecks (ugh!!)! (I've sometimes stopped the hen from doing this.)
The roo and head hen are standard size, & still much larger than the chicks.
So... Any suggestions on when I can take down the screen wall & rejoin the coops (adding a perpendicular 10.5 ft in length), & let the chicks into the big coop and roost? The way the adult roost is laid out, I wouldn't be able to "fence off" an area for the little family to use to ease their way in without blocking the doorway.
*A final note: out of the 4 chicks, I think I'll be lucky if I end up with 1 hen... and then the roos will have to go
So, all this for maybe 1 addition to the flock. : /*Pics: First 2 are today, in adult coop. #3: head hen giving the stink eye at little family dust bathing yesterday. #4: H hen leaving them alone, foraging. #5: In adult coop. #6: H hen dust bathing behind them. Mom looks taller standing on water tub.
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but anyways I've seen situations where roos got along despite there being too many of them and even despite alpha personalities, but my experiance is not extensive. Mainly I've seen my mother's bantam flock, which had originally 2 alpha type males, one iffy one, and one total submissive, and the two alphas after having a few scuffles and battles eventually called truce and had a pres vice pres relationship I swear, cause they both kept the other roos and hens in check and crowed together and didn't fight eachother, and when alpha roo died the second in command took over. Now the iffy one and him have established the same relationship. Of course these ones were raised as chicks together, and it can be very different when introducing new roos. Though with this one being a chick of one of his hens (though not biologically) it may be different than a totally strange roo being introduced, which usually doesn't go well. But I wish you the best of luck, and more hens!
