CoastalWolfDen
In the Brooder
- Jun 6, 2023
- 16
- 21
- 39
I have a flock of six 7 or 8 week chickens that I got all around the same time as chicks. When I brought them home, one of the chicks was a lot smaller than the rest, even though she was “allegedly” the same age. She didn’t seem to be thriving competing with the other chicks, and my neighbor’s granddaughter is super into animals and was begging for a chick, so I gave the whimsy chick to her for a few weeks, thinking some one on one attention from a doting little girl would help. Well, it did. The chicken grew as expected and forged a bond with the little girl.
Now here’s the problem. Neighbor girl had to go home a couple of weeks ago, so Peeps came back to me. She’s healthy, but has no interest in her flock mates, and they completely ignore her. She peeps all the time, as if she’s looking for her flock, and is only quiet if she’s roosting on my shoulder. While I find that adorable, I feel like she deserves chicken friends, not just people friends.
So, I went to Wilco and picked up 3 new chicks, thinking I’d put her in the brooder with them and even though she’d be a bit bigger it’d work out (its worked for me before following a coyote massacre) and she’d have a new clique within the flock.
Nope. She wants no part of the new babies, won’t even go near the coop (we have a brooder inside the coop) and is now fully free-ranging in the yard. She sleeps in a tree and hangs out alone all day.
I spend a fair amount of time in the yard and she hangs around me when I’m out there, but I’m worried about her…what should I do? I’m afraid that if she has no friends and won’t coop up at night I’ll find her frozen to death come winter. Has this happened to anyone else?
Now here’s the problem. Neighbor girl had to go home a couple of weeks ago, so Peeps came back to me. She’s healthy, but has no interest in her flock mates, and they completely ignore her. She peeps all the time, as if she’s looking for her flock, and is only quiet if she’s roosting on my shoulder. While I find that adorable, I feel like she deserves chicken friends, not just people friends.
So, I went to Wilco and picked up 3 new chicks, thinking I’d put her in the brooder with them and even though she’d be a bit bigger it’d work out (its worked for me before following a coyote massacre) and she’d have a new clique within the flock.
Nope. She wants no part of the new babies, won’t even go near the coop (we have a brooder inside the coop) and is now fully free-ranging in the yard. She sleeps in a tree and hangs out alone all day.
I spend a fair amount of time in the yard and she hangs around me when I’m out there, but I’m worried about her…what should I do? I’m afraid that if she has no friends and won’t coop up at night I’ll find her frozen to death come winter. Has this happened to anyone else?