Our weather has been positively horrible of late with grey, drizzly skies and a cold wind that feels like it's coming from the arctic! The "baby chicks" are officially gawky, hungry teenagers, and as such, have completely outgrown the brooder in the garage. They are fully feathered, and actively curious (read: getting into trouble), so time to move out of doors in spite of the weather!
We are just now seeing the beautiful markings that are developing ~ we've got Black Copper Marans, Blue Copper Marans and a few Olive Eggers (the grey coloured pullet on top of the feeder).
They are a little skittish in their new surroundings, but a little bit of fresh food convinced them to come out of their little cozy house for a few pictures :)
And of course, the "Big Girls" all came over to meet the new "kids" in town....
...and tell them exactly how things will be in the hen run.
There was much curiosity and plenty of hard stares... Clearly, these old girls know how to keep teens in line :)
Very nice. They are all looking good and healthy.
ReplyDeleteWill you keep the younger group separate from the older hens? I have two different pens of chickens, a year apart in age. I simply cannot put them together, because they fight. Each group is it's very own family!
ReplyDeleteMeggie, we have always introduced new, younger chickens in this manner. So far, we have not had any fighting. After a period of time separated (with wire fencing so both groups can happily see one another), we always put them all together. Usually, the sign to do it is when the "babies" are escaping or the adult hens are inside the little ones' pen for a visit, LOL.
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