I introduced the younger chicks to the older ones today. They turn 4 weeks old on Monday and I was ready to have them out of the house. They were starting to try to fly out of the box. It was starting to sound more like they were dive bombing the side of the box.
The introduction didn’t go so well. The older ones were not happy to share their space at all! I ended up “chick sitting” for several hours to make sure they played nice with each other. On girl in particular, (we call her Speckles) was not a happy camper. I had to resort to placing her in “time out”. Each time she was let back out, she would start pestering the younger ones. They weren’t bothering her but for some reason she felt the need to run them down and peck at them relentlessly. Each time she did this, she was again placed in time out.
Speckles was not happy being placed into the coop by herself. She squawked and wined the entire time she was in there. After about 4 times of being placed in time out, she seemed to be a little nicer, but by that time I was tired of chick sitting. I decided to place the smaller ones into the coop and leave the older ones in the outside run by themselves.
After dark I went out to put them all in the coop together. You would think they were going to catch something from each other by the way they were acting. The older ones were all huddled up with their heads in a corner, while the younger ones sat on the other side of the coop. They each would start to freak out if of one of the “others” ventured onto their side. I’m hoping they at least leave each other alone through the night until they can be let back out in the morning.
Almost 4 weeks of age.
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