trystinn | Poultry Report

Over the last few weeks, I've been giving the Rhodie hens a few minutes each day to interact with the chicks. At 2 months old today, they are quick enough to run away if need be and decently sized. Scarlett ignores them completely, Ruby has chased them away from the feed a few times but hasn't been violent.

Today the Rhodies decided they wanted back in the shed coop, so when I let them into the pen they dashed through the slot door and up into their loft. I was somewhat concerned when the largest chick, a Light Brahma, decided she wanted to see what was going on and climbed 1/2 way up the chicken ladder. Neither Rhodie reacted, so I stepped back and closed the door to watch from outside. The Rhodies sang their happy song, with just the slightest nervous twitter, so I left them to their assimilation.

I've gone to check on them a few times over the last few hours. So far, they all seem to have integrated together quite well. The Rhodies have stayed up in their cozy loft, the chicks down on the coop floor (or in their nesting boxes). A storm is coming in tonight, in fact if we make it to sunrise with power I'll be impressed. Knowing they are all together, tucked soundly in with their heat lamp and combined chicken body heat has balanced out my nervousness over the newness of the arrangement.

That said, I'm checking on them before I go to bed in a few minutes.

In ducky news, one of the Khaki Campbells (I think Lucy) has gone broody. She's built a little nest halfway under the shed coop where the dogs cannot get to her and where her brown plumage blends in perfectly to the background. The odds of her successfully hatching ducklings is practically null, sadly when she left the nest for a moment I felt the eggs and they were already cold. *sigh* I'll give her another day, then clean up the nest. Poor gal. She's been sneaking out of the pen at night, so I'd been somewhat suspicious.

Such is the life of a poultry handler.