I have a sweet little hen named Lil' Bit, two and a half years old.
Half blind and the runt, she used to be at the bottom of the pecking order, but being the roo's favorite she has worked herself up into the middle of the flock.
Since my adult flock is still ignoring the baby flock (11 weeks old) I have been trying to make formal introductions. I've been bringing my adult hens to the baby flock one at a time to see their reactions and to see if any of the adult hens would take a liking to the little ones.
Yesterday I tried Chloe (lowest ranking adult) first. No go, she stared at them for a few minutes but then went running back to the adults. Next Bluey, same reaction. Then my only bantam adult, Maggie. She was content to just forage with the babies until the two silkie chicks tried to follow her around. She too went screaming back to the adults.
Lastly I tried Lil' Bit. Always the most loving of the adults and half-blind, so what harm could she do?
Five minutes with the babies and she pecked a silkie chick (hard!), attacked one of the SF chicks feet first and then...she jumped on the largest of the cornish X chicks (he outweighs her by at least 2 lbs.) and bit him on the wing.
Guess my sweet lovable Lil' Bit is only lovable with humans.
Half blind and the runt, she used to be at the bottom of the pecking order, but being the roo's favorite she has worked herself up into the middle of the flock.
Since my adult flock is still ignoring the baby flock (11 weeks old) I have been trying to make formal introductions. I've been bringing my adult hens to the baby flock one at a time to see their reactions and to see if any of the adult hens would take a liking to the little ones.
Yesterday I tried Chloe (lowest ranking adult) first. No go, she stared at them for a few minutes but then went running back to the adults. Next Bluey, same reaction. Then my only bantam adult, Maggie. She was content to just forage with the babies until the two silkie chicks tried to follow her around. She too went screaming back to the adults.
Lastly I tried Lil' Bit. Always the most loving of the adults and half-blind, so what harm could she do?
Five minutes with the babies and she pecked a silkie chick (hard!), attacked one of the SF chicks feet first and then...she jumped on the largest of the cornish X chicks (he outweighs her by at least 2 lbs.) and bit him on the wing.
Guess my sweet lovable Lil' Bit is only lovable with humans.
