Kjukkjuk
In the Brooder
big sigh... I'm a bit stressed. So are the chickens! I added 4 eight week old chicks into an existing flock of 4 fourteen week old chickens and perhaps needless to say it's been crazy out in the run.
so, I got picked them up monday and put them inside a kennel, in the coop. The existing flock hopped around and looked at them and made some noise but the days went by and they got used to that scenario. I kept them in the kennel in the coop until this morning. I let them all out into the run with me there offering treats and a new improved and cleaned up run (raked out the old straw and put in new along with an area of redwood bark shavings, a new alfalfa hay bale with a flock block on top of that they can jump around on, a bit of melon and a cob of corn and me there talking away at them and feeding them by hand their favorite sugar snap peas out of the pod...
but omg holy moly! the existing silver lace and easter egger have lost their minds it seems over the new group and from time to time will chase them around like it's the Indy 500. and what a racket! it sounds like they're killing each other. the run is huge so there's plenty of room for them to run. a few pecks here and there and then it subsides and the two groups are on opposite sides of the run.
so, I'm projecting all sorts of worry and fear and panic from my little human brain onto the dynamics I'm seeing. Worrying a lot about tonight when they all go into the coop? omg... was this a huge mistake? will it just take a few days for them to work out their pecking order? should i get the easter egger and silver lace out of there? just let nature work itself out? i won't be adding again i don't think, not after this... i feel like i screwed it up somehow. maybe this is just normal?
big sigh, again... I'm sure others have experienced this as well I just haven't read through the posts yet and thought I'd just throw this out there. Helps me wrap my mind around it and de-stress a bit lol.
so, I got picked them up monday and put them inside a kennel, in the coop. The existing flock hopped around and looked at them and made some noise but the days went by and they got used to that scenario. I kept them in the kennel in the coop until this morning. I let them all out into the run with me there offering treats and a new improved and cleaned up run (raked out the old straw and put in new along with an area of redwood bark shavings, a new alfalfa hay bale with a flock block on top of that they can jump around on, a bit of melon and a cob of corn and me there talking away at them and feeding them by hand their favorite sugar snap peas out of the pod...
but omg holy moly! the existing silver lace and easter egger have lost their minds it seems over the new group and from time to time will chase them around like it's the Indy 500. and what a racket! it sounds like they're killing each other. the run is huge so there's plenty of room for them to run. a few pecks here and there and then it subsides and the two groups are on opposite sides of the run.
so, I'm projecting all sorts of worry and fear and panic from my little human brain onto the dynamics I'm seeing. Worrying a lot about tonight when they all go into the coop? omg... was this a huge mistake? will it just take a few days for them to work out their pecking order? should i get the easter egger and silver lace out of there? just let nature work itself out? i won't be adding again i don't think, not after this... i feel like i screwed it up somehow. maybe this is just normal?
big sigh, again... I'm sure others have experienced this as well I just haven't read through the posts yet and thought I'd just throw this out there. Helps me wrap my mind around it and de-stress a bit lol.
