- May 8, 2007
- 110
- 2
- 139
I have just about this same age different -- 6 weeks (2 each of speckled sussex, gold laced wyandotte, silkie) , 3 weeks (2 auracanas), and 2 weeks (4 blue laced wyandottes).
The funny thing is, when we brought home the second batch (2 auracanas), they mixed no prob during the day outside. Not one peck. I kept them separate at night more for the heat issue than anythign else, tho I was happy to sleep knowing they were safe, having read horror stories about introducing chicks.
Then I brought home the other four one week later. After mixing for a week no problem, suddenly some of the bigger girls took exception to this evening of the odds (now six "babies" versus six "ladies"). And within one minute of putting them all together outside, after having spent a night in a brooder that is divide with hard ware cloth so they can see each other, feathers were flying. Literally. Bandit, the smaller of the two speckled sussex chicks we have was going after the little ones with some serious bloodlust. After several pecks that were followed by her swallowing a mouthful of feathers, I pulled the babies. However, she now started in after the auracanas! So I pulled them too.
Having read the previous post, I'm wondering if I should have just let them at it but the babies were still probably less than one week old at that point.
When does the "real" pecking start? 4hmom, you said something about do it now before the real nasty stuff starts? When does that start? I'll have to figure out something that the bigger girls can't get to, maybe a crate, that the lil ones can escape into. Will that work?
Thanks,
Sioux
The funny thing is, when we brought home the second batch (2 auracanas), they mixed no prob during the day outside. Not one peck. I kept them separate at night more for the heat issue than anythign else, tho I was happy to sleep knowing they were safe, having read horror stories about introducing chicks.
Then I brought home the other four one week later. After mixing for a week no problem, suddenly some of the bigger girls took exception to this evening of the odds (now six "babies" versus six "ladies"). And within one minute of putting them all together outside, after having spent a night in a brooder that is divide with hard ware cloth so they can see each other, feathers were flying. Literally. Bandit, the smaller of the two speckled sussex chicks we have was going after the little ones with some serious bloodlust. After several pecks that were followed by her swallowing a mouthful of feathers, I pulled the babies. However, she now started in after the auracanas! So I pulled them too.
Having read the previous post, I'm wondering if I should have just let them at it but the babies were still probably less than one week old at that point.
When does the "real" pecking start? 4hmom, you said something about do it now before the real nasty stuff starts? When does that start? I'll have to figure out something that the bigger girls can't get to, maybe a crate, that the lil ones can escape into. Will that work?
Thanks,
Sioux