The five little chicks we picked up on Mothers day are no longer little babies. They grew so fast and have the funniest of personalities. The three Brahmas are hilarious and to watch them play is so fun. They are incredibly expressive and super fast as they fly, hop and charge each other. The two barred rocks emulate them although they are half their size. The music man and I love spending time at the end of the day watching them. We open the back door, pull up a couple chairs and there it is... chicken TV. It's great entertainment, relaxing and we don't even have to leave the property. Perfect!
For the last few weeks the teens have been with the big girls for some daily supervised play time. I am hoping to put them all together permanently as soon as I figure out what to do with two of my girls who are bullying them. The big girls and teens share a large area but are separated by a wire fence so they can see, smell and be close to each other without being in harms way and have been for the last month or so.
I am surprised to see my two docile and super easy going big girls continue to charge the newbies day after day. The brahmas stand up to them pretty well and are almost the same size but the barred rocks would get pummeled if I wasn't there... Perhaps we just need a few more weeks to let the barred get a bit bigger before putting everyone together?
While I was typing up this post a sweet little old brown dog of mine jumped up and grabbed Monkeys left over pizza off a tall table. Oh boy, I hope Pizza Bandits don't get tummy aches since I can't leave him outside at night....
Chicken tv is the best! I just love it. Your babies are all grown up and so cute. You have the right idea with keeping them where they can see each other and having supervised visits. I think they may need a little more time to get bigger before you fully integrate them. I've never had bantams though, so I'm not sure on how easy or hard it is to integrate them with standard chickens.
ReplyDeleteThere are indeed many ways to integrate chickens. I've never had success with slowly introducing them. The pecking order is disrupted each and every time you let them meet but then separate them.
ReplyDeleteMy way seems harsh but in the chicken world it is less stressful for them to take two days to get it all worked out than to take longer. Sigh. It is hard to watch, I know. Your older girls are just exhibiting their dominance and the barred rocks are not so quick to give in, most likely, so the big girls do it over and over.
Here is a funny article that talks a bit about pecking order: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/410238.article
And this article talks about the order, and also about keeping the smalls in a pen near the older hens so that they can see one another for a couple of weeks. But that unless blood is being shed, to try not to interfere with the establishment of the pecking order.
Sigh. It's not easy to watch!!!
And......it would have helped if I had put the link to the second article up! Doh!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.backyardchickens.com/a/a-guide-to-understanding-the-chicken-pecking-order
oh, pizza thief!!! shame! but so darn cute looking!
ReplyDeletei like your chickens, too.
That pizza thief looks awfully cute.
ReplyDeleteBest. Dog. Face. Ever. :-)
ReplyDelete