Silkie Chicks and Rooster

[rodgis]

My 4 chicks are almost a month old and I'm wondering if it is ok to let the hen, rooster and chicks all be together now??? I've kept him out of their pen so far. Thanks! They are very active, the hen is feisty to me and he seems protective, even if separate. This was the hen who had a lot of calcium problems when she started laying, then ended up laying 9 eggs in a row, 4 of which hatched. She was too little for that many eggs!
Rod

 

[gavinandallison]

Quote:
They are good enough now to intermingle. I let my Silkie hens hatch with the roo around them, he is very protective and has caused no problems at all with the 2 chicks I have outside at present.

 

[djennings]

I finally put my silkie and her 6 chicks back with her roo after a month seperated and he was awesome with his babies. He actually watches over them more than mom does.

 

[Gypsy07]

I kept my hen and chicks separate for about ten days, then when I finally let her and her chicks out of the brooding shed for some fresh air, she decided she was going straight back into the main coop with them. That's with two roos and about 16 other hens. They were absolutely fine. They did get pecked on a little bit at first and so I sprayed the bare bits with a purple dye to discourage it, but all the pecking was done by the other hens and definitely not by either of the roos, who were much more tolerant of the chicks than any of the hens were. I'd say, let them mingle, and watch carefully for a couple of hours. That should be long enough to give you an idea if there's likely to be any problems...