Ok so this is gonna be a bit of a long one so apologies in advance.
I had two flocks before (was watching a rooster and hen for someone else And they took them back so i was only left with one)
apparently I live in an area where you’re not allowed to have roosters (even though you hear like 20 within a two block radius) so my previous pair is now only one. However before getting rid of my rooster, I got some fertile eggs from my chicken. She’s bad at roosting so I had to get an incubator. Out of the batch only two hatched.
my chicken has been alone for some time now, I tried introducing the chicks to her on 3 separate occasions but she either avoided them or tried to kick them.
about a week ago was the fourth time I brought them up. (They hatched on August 6th btw)
she stuck her head into the milk crate I was using to carry them and she pecked at one but not maliciously, more like she was pecking something off of them.
i took that as a sign to bring up my original chicken coop I housed the mother in and put it into the horse stable I converted to house chickens.
they’ve been up here for 5 days now. I’ve noticed she hasn’t acted malicious Towards them. They’re around 3/4 of her size. She’s definitely a lot fluffier than they are. ButI have yet to witness her try to fight with them or try to figure out a way to get into the coop to attack them like you normally would see when chickens or roosters fight. She will circle it if she sees they have food or are pecking away at something but other than that she does her own thing. I also noticed she likes eating next to them first while they eat, before eating the food that’s been scattered further away by her kicking at it.
My question is mainly.... should I wait another 1-2 weeks before just letting them out and wonder about on their own or is there a chance she might actually hurt them if they start wondering freely with her. They’re all Barred rock and idk if you guys can see my previous posts but she’s the one who was attacked and is now missing an eye.
I’ll add that when I open the coop to put food in or change the water or just do maintenance on it, she does seem curious but it doesn’t take more than the back of my two fingers gently pressed against her chest to make her back off and walk away.
I had two flocks before (was watching a rooster and hen for someone else And they took them back so i was only left with one)
apparently I live in an area where you’re not allowed to have roosters (even though you hear like 20 within a two block radius) so my previous pair is now only one. However before getting rid of my rooster, I got some fertile eggs from my chicken. She’s bad at roosting so I had to get an incubator. Out of the batch only two hatched.
my chicken has been alone for some time now, I tried introducing the chicks to her on 3 separate occasions but she either avoided them or tried to kick them.
about a week ago was the fourth time I brought them up. (They hatched on August 6th btw)
she stuck her head into the milk crate I was using to carry them and she pecked at one but not maliciously, more like she was pecking something off of them.
i took that as a sign to bring up my original chicken coop I housed the mother in and put it into the horse stable I converted to house chickens.
they’ve been up here for 5 days now. I’ve noticed she hasn’t acted malicious Towards them. They’re around 3/4 of her size. She’s definitely a lot fluffier than they are. ButI have yet to witness her try to fight with them or try to figure out a way to get into the coop to attack them like you normally would see when chickens or roosters fight. She will circle it if she sees they have food or are pecking away at something but other than that she does her own thing. I also noticed she likes eating next to them first while they eat, before eating the food that’s been scattered further away by her kicking at it.
My question is mainly.... should I wait another 1-2 weeks before just letting them out and wonder about on their own or is there a chance she might actually hurt them if they start wondering freely with her. They’re all Barred rock and idk if you guys can see my previous posts but she’s the one who was attacked and is now missing an eye.
I’ll add that when I open the coop to put food in or change the water or just do maintenance on it, she does seem curious but it doesn’t take more than the back of my two fingers gently pressed against her chest to make her back off and walk away.
