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Raising Baby Chicks Week 4 Meet the Hens
The chicks are a little larger now and need to be introduced to the hens.
Last summer six week old chicks were chased away older hens. The pen was new to the chicks and they had no sense where food, water & shelter were for them, they didn’t come back on their own.
Daisy came to the rescue. Daisy found two chicks and cornered them against a building foundation and kept them there until I caught up and caught the chicks. Daisy flushed another chick out of the brush and into the nose of our canoe and kept her there until I could reach in and pull out the chick. Daisy found the fourth chick in an old tire. We searched for a long time for the last two chicks.
The good news, Daisy found both chicks together. The bad news, they were both very deep into thick brush and briars. Daisy couldn’t reach them. I couldn’t lop branches enough to help Daisy reach them. The sun was setting. I put out food and water and left them out for the night. We hoped for the best for our “lost chicks”.
I brushed Daisy that night and pull thorns out of her skin. She had tried very hard to reach her chicks in the briar thicket. Daisy is a hard working dog, and dedicated. She knew it was her job to collect all the chicks for me and she did the very best she could, and never complained or whimpered. I watch Daisy closely to be sure she isn’t getting hurt while working on projects with me. She’s a real trooper.
I tried several times the next day to catch the chicks, without success. I didn’t leave food or water for them at night. I took food & water out the next morning and caught them both in a very large net. I put them the cage with the other four chicks. My chicks were all together inside a cage, inside the run with the older hens safely outside.
This new group of Rhode Island Red & Easter Egger chicks are slowly being introduced to the three older hens. They seem to be getting along well.
I left my camera out to spy on my chickens to see how they all get along for a couple days, while I’m not there to interrupt them.
My first day, I learned two hens hop onto the chick cage and fly out over the fence and out of the run area. One hen isn’t able to keep up, and was left behind.
The second day I put a small tarp over the chicken cage, to offer a little shade and shelter for them. I learned the three big hens can reach through the cage and eat the baby chick food. I thought I was going through more grain than I should have been. My hens have their own laying feed inside their coop. I fill it with eight pounds of grain and they eat for more than a week.
How much grain am I feeding my chicks? Less than 1/8 cup a day for all 6 chicks at four weeks old.
This is all been good information for me to know about. Putting the spy camera out for a few hours has been educational for me.
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