Hi all, I had my 6 6/7 week old babies in a brooder box mesh to mesh with my coop and run which is home to my 5adult bantams. (1 roo 4 hens) they are very docile sweet birds. Anyhow today we went for it and put everyone in together. It is a large run. The bantams for the most part ignored the chicks ( by the way they are all pretty much same size) if they got too close one of the hens or the roo would give a minor rebuke and go right back to what they were doing. Early evening all the babies were in the coop and so were 3 adult hens. The hens were chilling on their favorite shelf up top and were not in the least concerned with the little ones. Then at dusk in came the roo and the last hen. The babies squished into a corner and waited for the two to jump up in the bed with the others. The adults acted fine with them... It seemed they just wanted to go to bed. The babies then decided they wanted to play in the yard and out they filed... I let them run around and then it was getting quite dark and cool. I rounded them up and put them in the coop. Our run is completely enclosed in netting and is safe from predators. We don't lock the birds in at night. The door is open.... My question is, is it safe that I lock them in? I covered the door because I don't want the youngins to go out and not go back in and freeze their buns off. Everyone is sleeping now... With a infrared bullb for little ones if they want to get under it. ....so what do you think?? Should I leave door open for an escape?
Thanks!
My profile has pics of my coop... The side you can see through to is a screen door and is closed at night. Just the ramp door stays open
Thanks!
My profile has pics of my coop... The side you can see through to is a screen door and is closed at night. Just the ramp door stays open