Sunday 16 June 2013

Releasing the chicks

chicks June 13

I went on holiday on 8th June and returned yesterday, 15th June. A friend looked after the livestock in our absence. One of our first jobs on getting back was to release the 4 chicks into the flock. For a few weeks, the chicks have been in their own henhouse and chicken run on the allotment. They can see the other hens but had, until today, been kept separate. We judged that they are now big enough to be integrated into the flock. That simply meant dismantling the chicken run this morning so that the chicks were free to wander across the whole allotment.

There were no fights and no bullying from the hens. This evening, when I went over to close up the henhouses, the chicks (now nearly 3 months old) were all back in their henhouse. So, that job at least went off without a hitch.

The above photo shows the 4 chicks (they stayed together as a group as they moved throughout the allotment) sitting in the rain shelter we built last year.

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