# Chicks tonight



## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Matilda and Martha are growing like weeds. They are still in my spare bedroom as their coop isn't done yet. Tonight I cleaned out their house and let them run around the bedroom lol
.they were amazed at the rug lol
, and both can fly a bit now so the door is kept shut


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Isn't amazing how much of a mess things so tiny can make? But it could be a lot worse, like 20 of them and using shavings.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Lol true! I used to use shavings, I was going to do half and half but forgot.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

And them today


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Won't be long and they'll be bigger than Buffy.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I agre, they are sprouting like weeds tomorrow they all go ouside in the maternity coop it will be done tomorrow finally


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

And I put them outside this morning....

























Sadie guarding them










I'm nervous as all hell. I will probably bring them in at bedtime


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

They did good. We Had A Camera On The Coop All Night


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

It's not to early to have them outside right? They are almost two weeks old


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Too broad of a question, what is the outside temp? How wet is it?

At two weeks they can still get quite chilled especially if they get wet.

I raised a lot of chicks out in my coops in the middle of Winter with Mom's. You can do this and not suffer sleepless nights.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

It's been 80 plus daytime, nights vary at 65-85 depending on how hot it is during the day. This morning the dew was on the grass , maybe 65 out. Both chicks were doing OK with buffy, I have a new nesting box in the coop and the coop and nesting box are stuffed with hay for insukation, both chicks sleep in buffy 's wings at might,. My house at night is around 75 during day with a/c on, at night it drops down too. 
Today we have a 20% cm chance of rain should I have bill catch them and bring them in the house? We have an awning up to protect from the rain over the coop and pen area, he can also tarp the entire set up too..








Here is a pic of the coop and run, it's attached to the main pen area so the other hens can see the babies and buffy from all angkes, and when big hens are out on little coop side they can still mingle with the barriers up to protect the babues.










I thought since buffy was mothering them I could put all 3 outside, but if you think I should bring them in the house let me know. When I got my chicks last year they didn't have a mom so they stayed in my house from April to June and came out in july once they were fully feathered and coop was built.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Don't bring them in the house. You need them to adjust to the outside atmosphere. You do not want the peeps to get wet though, if you have Bill do anything with them put them in their coop if rain is imminent. 

You're trying to micromanage too much. Keeping them away from the flock, worrying too much about conditions. 

KISS, if you can do that then this whole chick thing will be ten times more fun. 

You could be setting them up for an entirely different problem when its time to turn the peeps out. 99% of us that have raised them for years raised chicks with the flock. If a hen was raising them they were left outdoors with the flock. Right now when the peeps are most apt to be accepted by the flock, they are segregated.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

But the other hens are very bad when it comes to pecking order, buffy is a small silkie, if the other big hens gang up on the chicks she won't be able to defend them as the other hens are all standard size, she is bantam size, I'm so worried about the chicks being pecked to death by the bigger hens as they can be nasty if they want to...
I also have a hawk that lives in my pine trees, so the chicks are perfect size for hawk dinner.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I'm terrified the big hens Will peck the babies to death, I've heard that can happen. Buffy is a bantam silkie, she cat defend both chicks from the 12 big hens if something hapens. I also have a hawk that lives in the pine trees and am terrified it will eat the babies


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

So you think I should let them all together with the big hens? Have everyone in the same big coop/pen/yard area?? Isn't that risky? .my tetras and rsl are not maternal at all, the other silkie almost killed martha when she started hatching, and the other black ee's aren't maternal either


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It should not matter whether they are maternal or not. My egg layers weren't but they never messed with the chicks, they just stepped away. Especially if Momma got po'ed at them being so close to their chicks. Don't under estimate what Buffy will do to protect her chicks, whether its just her being paranoid or actually protecting her peeps.

That business with Martha is not unheard of. Sometimes first time hatchers don't understand what is happening and will attack the hatching peeps. I had it happen once, pulled the chicks and unhatched eggs from the hen and raised them myself. Once I had the one that was scalped all healed up I was able to put them back outside.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Ok thanks, tonight when I get home from work we are going to let them all out together while we both are there and see how they do.if they do good am I supposed to let them all sleep in the big hen coop and roam outside in the hens side yard tomorrow? I never had this situation so I have no clue what to do, I'm so afraid of either a hawk or them being pecked to death, and slipping thru the fence next door that belongs to my neighbors and then being seperated, the neighbors have horse fencing with goat fencing so their dogs can't get to my yard, we used their fencing as part of our yard for the chickens... there are some holes in the goat fencing on their side thst the chicks could slip thru. .wow don't I sound paranoid omg


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Let Buffy decide. She knows what she's comfortable with, if she goes to the little coop then let them stay there. If she goes to the big coop, same thing.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Really ? She can decide? She is kinda young lol, I got her at 6-9 months old in sept.. so worse case she would be 1.5 years old. 
I'll see what she does. What if she is wrong?
we don't have enough wood to block off half an acre of fencing to make sure they don't go thru the fence to the beighbors. We used all the rocks we had to block off the larger holes already


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yes, really. Chickens have been raising chicks for millennia without us having to do a thing.

You can't compare human years to a chicken, that bird is far older than a human when it comes to instincts and knowing what to do and when to do it. 

What would be the right thing? Even if you continued to manage every bit of the rearing of the chicks something could still happen. Buffy is far more accomplished at protecting her brood than we are. If they go outside the fence, then she will call them back. They are not going to be anxious to spread out far away from her for some time yet.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I sound like a worry wort I know... when the big chickens hop the fence they can't figure out to hop back. OK we will see what she does tonight and go from there. Do you think the other hens will leave the babies alone?they have been very very curious about the babies every time they go outside in the xpen


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Rain tonight so no go . Tomorrow night supposed to be better so we will do it tomorrow nighy, plus we have to section off the new plants from the big hens


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Today's first forage did not go well , buffy is a good mom but not good at protecting the chicks. First Henrietta came by to see who the newcomers were, she pecked Matilda and buffy ran away. So I had to remove Henrietta. 
The hens were on the other side of the yard so no one rushed buffy or the chicks. Buffy then started walking around with the chicks. She stopped by a new bush and started dustbathibg with both chicks next to her. One of my rsl came over and went after martha, to which buffy got up and tried to protect the babues but wound up running away not making any sound and leaving both chicks at the bush with one rsl. I had to chase her away from the babies and get the babies back to buffy. I stayed out of it until I saw buffy take off and not call the babies to run to her


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

This is why I didn't separate my peeps from the flock. The only time I had a hen go after a chick was when it got too close to her chicks. Buffy's standing the flock is more than likely altered since she's been segregated from them for so long.

More than likely the RSL wasn't serious about the poke administered but was relaying a message that they need to fall in line. When a bird is serious something like grabbing the chick like a dog would a rag toy and shaking it the heck out of it is serious. I saw that with one of mine where the chick that didn't belong to her brood got too close.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Tomorrow they will all be loose again, I agree buffy place is now last in the pecking order, but why didn't she defend the chick? I was right there and the two hens went right at the chicks and pecked them really hard, and buffy took off.. Buffy was right at both chicks sides when the other hens came at the banies, she didn't try to make the other hen go away she just ran off


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

She was taken out of the flock when Matilda was born so that was June 7


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The other hens didn't bother buffy at all, just the chicks they went after


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I really don't know what to tell you. I didn't interfere much in the raising of chicks when the hens hatched them. I did move the one monster hen to her own pen when she had chicks because I knew what she would do. The others? I let them raise them and just made sure they had all the things they needed.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I'll keep integrating them slowly and gradually, so far 3 hens met the babies and went after them, I got 9 more to go.... I think my bantam ee will be fine, she is very no confrontational . The rest I am not sure of, but I have to watch so the babies stay ok, if buffy is going to keep running away then I have to step in. Worse case I rebuild the flock and add one at a time to buffy ' s area and if I wind up with two flicks instead of one I'll be happy, I just want the babies to not be hurt . Helping me is its summer so everyone has an acre to wander so it gives time for getting used to the babies slowly, plus the bigger the babies get the better I will feel about supervised flock time, martha especially as she is smaller then Matilda. Buffy went to bed early tonight she and chicks went in their coop at 630. I think she was a bit stressed about the pecking of the babies, the one time she tried to defend them she just puffed up then when the rsl walked forward toward her she bolted, didn't stand her ground at all just ran off and left the chicks at the new small bush . I had to chase the rsl away and herd the babies back to their pen area..
I'll keep doing slow intros and it should work out. Hell if I can get my dog aggressive dog to accept other dogs this way it should work for chickens..


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

A friend of mine in PA has a flock she can't add to at all, she tried and her hens killed the new hens, so she just sticks to what she has


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

And it's pouring here today so no free ranging for any of the hens, the big ones won't go out in the rain when it's pouring , their pen door is open , and the chicks pen and coop is tarped.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Pouring again grrrr


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## chickens4me (Jun 28, 2015)

I just wanted to tell you that I think you are doing a great job. I don't put my new chicks in with the grown up flock until they are pretty much teen-agers, because I have found over the yrs that hens are really mean to any babies that are not their own.I have 4 pens with different age chickens, and 1 dog kennel with a hen on a nest. You just keep on doing what you are doing. And when you do mix them. do it at night when everyone is sleepy. That way the flock scent will get onto the newcomers and they will be less inclined to fight.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Thanks! I'm going very slow so the chicks don't get hurt or killed . They won't be fully integrated till november, this way the stress and pecking will be minimal as they free range on my acre property so there is plenty of room to get to know each other.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The chicks roosting


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Was that top always there? Or are the little ones deciding it's time to go out and explore?


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The top was always there, they can fly a bit so we put that up to keep them in and predators out.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Tonight Buffy attacked three hens who got too close to the babies, as I had everyone roaming due to nice weather. Her sister Hilda is dangerous- she went after the babies and buffy and then they both fought. I have to keep Hilda away from Buffy.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

More like I would expect a hen to behave when she has chicks.

I wonder if her running away before was because she had been separated from everyone and didn't feel confident enough to stay to protect her peeps.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Maybe? She had no hesitation last night, she kicked the crap out of any hen that came near the babies


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