PoachedPlease Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Well it happened naturally, surprisingly, tonight that the wonderful broody mum just decided to go back to her big girl coop as the light failed. Her 2 chicks started tweeting and followed her but quickly got kicked out of the coop by the big hens. They perched in the outside run tweeting sadly, and mum chirped back, but did not come out of the run. The big question is, should I leave them in the run (fox proof) or move them back to their eglu, where they normally live?? Am i just delaying the whole integration hoo-ha by moving them back - but the tweeting is very loud . Their growers pellets are in the eglu, so its the only way I can keep the feed separate and stop them being pecked, but nature is telling them to wait outside the coop until morning (when they will probably be pecked by the big girls again.)! Your thoughts much appreciated xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 move them back into their own quarters as they will need to be there until they are at least 18 weeks old as they older birds will bully them including their former mom plus they need to be on growers until about 18 weeks old or the first egg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daxigirl Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Persil tired of her babies at about 7 weeks, she started laying again and took no further interest in them, so I figured it was time. The babies stayed in their coop and she returned to the bigguns without so much as a backwards glance. I'd follow the previous advice and let them be in their own coop and run. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoachedPlease Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Thanks guys, that makes sense. Only problem now is that although mum wants to go back to the girls, they are being vile to her. Stopping her drinking and chasing her away. Am going on hols next week so very worried she will starve if I'm not there to intervene. Can't go back now Tell me they will stop being horrible v. V. Soon! She isn't laying yet, will that make a difference? X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Sorry that they are being unkind to the mum. Can you put out more feeding and watering stations so that she has more of a chance of getting to one. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
