One of my flock grabbed at a chick

[McChooky]

When they integrate I am opening up the little run so they all have run of almost my entire backyard + hideyholes, don't worry there will be Plenty of fleeing space. This is day 4 of the babies having been visible to the other girls all day, day 5 of them being visible at least at night.

I've unfortunately caught a bug of some sort, but as soon as I'm better I'm gonna grab a second pair of eyes for supervision and try to let everyone get along together.

The biggest threat is openings only big enough for the chicks. If momma can't reach them she can't protect them.

 

[BeanieBabies]

yeah... they can walk straight through the fence but mama can't. might see if I can grab some shadecloths to string around the perimeter

 

[BeanieBabies]

Update: Today we tried a trial integration by letting Bean and her babies out of their little run.

Paprika is absolutely chill, she gives a single chick a tiny peck to say 'back off', and other than that is fine.

Splurt, on the other hand, seems to think the chicks are for hunting for sport. I swear she's trying to eat one.

Worse, Bean doesn't view either of her flockmates as remotely a threat, unlike how she views random birds that land near her.

While trying to keep Splurt away from the chicks after noticing her trying to grab at them, one chick gets separated in the hustle and starts following Splurt instead of her mum.

Suffice it to say, nobody was hurt, but we're not trying that again until the chicks are at least 3 weeks old, big enough that Splurt can't view them as snack-sized.

 

[LuciferRoo]

If you are going to partition them, I would suggest making a frame filled with hardware cloth.
You want them to see each other and get close without the possibility of pecking.
Once the chicks are big enough you can remove the partition.

 

[BeanieBabies]

That's pretty much the setup now. I've got them in a 'time share', Splurt and Paprika have the large outer enclosure, which is most of my backyard, and Bean and her babies have a mouse mesh (I think this is the same thing as hardwire cloth) little run that is predator proofed.

Pictures included!