Ribh's D'Coopage

[LozzyR]

My broodies are nuts.
These 3 have been sharing since it started warming up.
They have even figured out how to share the egg. Chavi & Tsuri both have a wing over it & are wrapped round each other.
View attachment 3693027​

You should submit that for POW!

 

[Ribh]

Tootsie is small enough to slip through the bars of the temporary pen. Luckily, chooklike, she doesn't like being separated from the others & hi-tails it back pronto.

The Aracaunas will join the big girls in the next day or two. The little girls are still feathering out.

Today, for the first time, everybody was calm about being picked up & transported to the pen.

 

[RoyalChick]

Tootsie is small enough to slip through the bars of the temporary pen. Luckily, chooklike, she doesn't like being separated from the others & hi-tails it back pronto.

The Aracaunas will join the big girls in the next day or two. The little girls are still feathering out.

Today, for the first time, everybody was calm about being picked up & transported to the pen.
View attachment 3693529​

She looks no bigger than a song bird!

 

[Ribh]

She looks no bigger than a song bird!

She isn’t. Sorbet is the same size. She just looks a little bigger because of the frizzling. Even fully grown they will be tiny compared to a standard chook.

 

[BY Bob]

You should submit that for POW!

Or the Caption contest!

 

[BY Bob]

She isn’t. Sorbet is the same size. She just looks a little bigger because of the frizzling. Even fully grown they will be tiny compared to a standard chook.

Such a lovely new group.

 

[Ribh]

The Aracaunas, being so much bigger than the other 3, needed to be moved out as soon as possible. I did that last night.

It is always a little worrying when you add new chickens to an existing tribe though Portia, Ha'penny, Alpia & Wrold all certainly new that the new girls had arrived. They've been able to see them through the window for a fortnight & investigate a little when they've been out in the pen.

However the Aracaunas are nearly double the size of Africa & even bigger when compared to Sorbet or Tootsie. Worse, one of @Shadrach's shibboleths was in play: birds of a colour flock together. Africa, being bigger, was ok, but Tootsie was constantly being harassed, being not only small, but the only brown mottled bird. Tootsie is zippy & feisty & was holding her own but she is so much happier this morning. The 3 littles fed companionably side by side & without the bigger birds stirring things up are forming their own happy little sub~group.

Meanwhile I headed up to the coop early to ensure I wasn't going to have to scrape bodies of the floor but all is quiet on the chicken front. None of my older girls seem fazed by the newcomers. China & India were off their roost & happily investigating their surroundings.

My biggest problem is likely to be the dogs. I will have to watch them until they get over their excitement of having the newbies out with the Oldies.​

 

[BY Bob]

The Aracaunas, being so much bigger than the other 3, needed to be moved out as soon as possible. I did that last night.

It is always a little worrying when you add new chickens to an existing tribe though Portia, Ha'penny, Alpia & Wrold all certainly new that the new girls had arrived. They've been able to see them through the window for a fortnight & investigate a little when they've been out in the pen.

However the Aracaunas are nearly double the size of Africa & even bigger when compared to Sorbet or Tootsie. Worse, one of @Shadrach's shibboleths was in play: birds of a colour flock together. Africa, being bigger, was ok, but Tootsie was constantly being harassed, being not only small, but the only brown mottled bird. Tootsie is zippy & feisty & was holding her own but she is so much happier this morning. The 3 littles fed companionably side by side & without the bigger birds stirring things up are forming their own happy little sub~group.

Meanwhile I headed up to the coop early to ensure I wasn't going to have to scrape bodies of the floor but all is quiet on the chicken front. None of my older girls seem fazed by the newcomers. China & India were off their roost & happily investigating their surroundings.

My biggest problem is likely to be the dogs. I will have to watch them until they get over their excitement of having the newbies out with the Oldies.​

View attachment 3693951

Excellent observation and adjustment on your part. I expected nothing less. I am pleased to hear they are blending well so far.

 

[Shadrach]

The Aracaunas, being so much bigger than the other 3, needed to be moved out as soon as possible. I did that last night.

It is always a little worrying when you add new chickens to an existing tribe though Portia, Ha'penny, Alpia & Wrold all certainly new that the new girls had arrived. They've been able to see them through the window for a fortnight & investigate a little when they've been out in the pen.

However the Aracaunas are nearly double the size of Africa & even bigger when compared to Sorbet or Tootsie. Worse, one of @Shadrach's shibboleths was in play: birds of a colour flock together. Africa, being bigger, was ok, but Tootsie was constantly being harassed, being not only small, but the only brown mottled bird. Tootsie is zippy & feisty & was holding her own but she is so much happier this morning. The 3 littles fed companionably side by side & without the bigger birds stirring things up are forming their own happy little sub~group.

Meanwhile I headed up to the coop early to ensure I wasn't going to have to scrape bodies of the floor but all is quiet on the chicken front. None of my older girls seem fazed by the newcomers. China & India were off their roost & happily investigating their surroundings.

My biggest problem is likely to be the dogs. I will have to watch them until they get over their excitement of having the newbies out with the Oldies.​

View attachment 3693951

I found Bantams and full size an easy split. It gets more complicated when eggs that are half bantam and half full sized hatch and grow up within the group.

 

[Ribh]

I found Bantams and full size an easy split. It gets more complicated when eggs that are half bantam and half full sized hatch and grow up within the group.

The tribe is now mostly true bantams: Japs & D'Uccles. Wrold & Alpia are Wyandotte bantams, so still small but quite a bit bigger than the true bantams: they run with the bigger birds. Ha'penny & the Aracaunas are small standards. They won't be big birds. That leaves Portia who is a frizzled Wyandotte & huge by comparison.

What has happened is the smaller girls have formed their own tribe. They don't compete with the big girls & tend to orbit on the fringes of the bigger hen's group. They are not adverse to using the bigger hens as cover & camouflage but there's no infighting. I have always tended to choose breeds with a reputation for being docile. I can't stand vicious chook fighting, one reason I was no fan of the Vorwerks. They were mean.

So far this new mix is working well.