Yesterday I went to the feed store. They had 1 little 1 week old black sex link pullet left for sale. They wanted to break down the brooder and be done with the chick sale for the spring. So, of course, I had to save her. I brought her home, put her in with the15 day old RIR straight run chicks I have. They (the roos mostly) immediately started picking on her. So I took her out and put her in a box with a little banty hen, also 15 days old. They are doing fine together. My question: I am going to move them all out to an outside enclosed coop on Sunday. I will have heat in there and our weather is supposed to be moderate next week. Do you think the RIR will ever accept her?? Is it her smell or the fact she is black?? I kept the RIR and banties separated for a the first week, and then put them in together, no problems. In fact the banties take a running jump and pile into the middle, they have NO FEAR. What am I going to do with that little black chick. Help, oh, help, please any suggestions. DonnaBelle
I would go ahead and put the older chicks out but leave the 2 15 day old chicks in the brooder and wait until they catch up with the others in size
I would give the new chick a little time alone with the bantams before putting them with the RIRs. This way she will have friends If you put the new baby and the bantams in with the RIRs at the same time then she should be fine. I have found that introducing more than one chick to the flock has better results than if you introduce one by itself.
Quote:Yes, this is a better method. BTW a chicken's sense of smell is so poor is it just about non-existent. They rely more on their sight.
It isn't because she is black. It is because she is new and younger. I had chicks of different ages last year. I kept them in wire cages side by side in the yard for several weeks prior to putting them in the coop together. I put them in the new coop at the same time. That way they were all in a new and unfamiliar environment. They got along fine.
