We hatched three chickens on December 1st. Two turned out to be roosters so we gave them back and now we have one hen by herself. We had planned to hold on to one of the roosters as long as we figured the neighbors could tolerate to keep the hen company, but had to give him back about three weeks ago when he started getting too aggressive with her (she isn't laying yet). Meanwhile we got new baby chicks (commercially, so presumably sexed already) that were born 7 weeks ago. We have them outside full time now and have been keeping the hen and the new babies separate, for about two weeks. We do let them both out into the yard together for about an hour per day, but closely supervised.
So far, the older hen (Chip) hasn't been too aggressive with them, but I honestly don't know what to look for. There has been pecking and she definitely lunges at any of them if they get to close to where she is foraging, but they back off promptly and she doesn't chase them down or anything. Again, I don't know what to look for as a sign they might be ready to share a coop or if there is a real danger to the babies if we were to try such a thing. We were planning on just keeping them separate for another week, but there are cold nights coming up so if they are able to share a coop, that might be more comfortable for them. We also don't want to wait until they are big enough to gang up on Chip before letting them mingle unsupervised - I don't know how spiteful chickens are but Chip has definitely been acting a bit smug about going from half the size of everyone (roosters got big quick) to twice the size of everyone, so I fear the babies might too aggressively "put her in her place" once they notice that they could.
Does it seem like they are ready? Anyone have any ideas, advice, or questions that could inform them?
So far, the older hen (Chip) hasn't been too aggressive with them, but I honestly don't know what to look for. There has been pecking and she definitely lunges at any of them if they get to close to where she is foraging, but they back off promptly and she doesn't chase them down or anything. Again, I don't know what to look for as a sign they might be ready to share a coop or if there is a real danger to the babies if we were to try such a thing. We were planning on just keeping them separate for another week, but there are cold nights coming up so if they are able to share a coop, that might be more comfortable for them. We also don't want to wait until they are big enough to gang up on Chip before letting them mingle unsupervised - I don't know how spiteful chickens are but Chip has definitely been acting a bit smug about going from half the size of everyone (roosters got big quick) to twice the size of everyone, so I fear the babies might too aggressively "put her in her place" once they notice that they could.
Does it seem like they are ready? Anyone have any ideas, advice, or questions that could inform them?
