Hi there!
I have 6 9 week old chicks, 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Australorps. I also have 3 pullet/nearly hens - a RI Red, a Wyandotte and a Blue Cochin. We live where it's pretty warm, so we moved our chicks in their "brooder" outdoors about 2 weeks ago, putting it inside the chicken run so the older hens could hear the babies. We left the heat lamp on for the babies at night. We've started trying to socialize the babies with the hens, and my RIR is the pecker in the bunch. The other 2 hens have no problem with the babies. For the last several days we removed the brooder and have been letting the chicks roam free with the big girls. But we've been locking up the RIR while the chicks are roaming, and vice versa, putting the chicks into the coop while the RIR roams. Today was the first morning that I let them all out together, and it seems as though the RIR no longer has an interest in pecking at them. She still will occassionally chase them into the coop, but she doesn't go into the coop after them. Is this type of seamless integration too good to be true?? What should I be looking for at this point?
Thanks!
I have 6 9 week old chicks, 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Australorps. I also have 3 pullet/nearly hens - a RI Red, a Wyandotte and a Blue Cochin. We live where it's pretty warm, so we moved our chicks in their "brooder" outdoors about 2 weeks ago, putting it inside the chicken run so the older hens could hear the babies. We left the heat lamp on for the babies at night. We've started trying to socialize the babies with the hens, and my RIR is the pecker in the bunch. The other 2 hens have no problem with the babies. For the last several days we removed the brooder and have been letting the chicks roam free with the big girls. But we've been locking up the RIR while the chicks are roaming, and vice versa, putting the chicks into the coop while the RIR roams. Today was the first morning that I let them all out together, and it seems as though the RIR no longer has an interest in pecking at them. She still will occassionally chase them into the coop, but she doesn't go into the coop after them. Is this type of seamless integration too good to be true?? What should I be looking for at this point?
Thanks!
