The time has come for the baby chicks to move from the brooder to outside. Because of the unseasonably warm weather that we have been experiencing, the chicks, which we mail ordered back in August have been living outside now for about a week. The time schedule is ahead of what I anticipated and they are all doing well.
We have our run set up to house separate flocks, divided by a fence. This works for us to prevent pecking order from the older ladies, and also because the flocks are on different feed at this time. The younger ones are on a grower feed, while the older ones are on a layer feed. The secondary coop is smaller than our main coop and has no nesting boxes.
When the time comes, we will move the new girls into the main coop, but for now, the girls have been enjoying their newfound freedom. Their days are filled with scratching, pecking, jumping, and flying.
They are usually eager to come out of the coop in the mornings to start their day, but evenings are a different story. Instead of going into the coop at night, they huddle in a corner of the run. For the first few nights, it was easy to place them in the coop because they were already asleep when we closed up for the night. For the last few nights, we have been trying to go out when it is dusk (the time they should be going in to roost). We are training them to go into the coop and soon enough, it will happen.
Their appearances are changing daily due to growing and juvenile molting. Ranking order is also underway; it’s a natural process that hens go through. Every day seems to bring something new here at LL Farm.
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