Thechicksare almost 6 weeks old . They do n’t love much more than how to eat on , drink , pasture and take flight , and they draw close mere familiarity with too much casualness . They lack social Grace and respectfulness for their elders , which the older hen wo n’t hesitate to teach .
The chicks are still not allowed tofree - range like the hen . They need more protection because they have n’t learned about the danger lurking above . The war hawk has n’t visit in a week , but if he did stop by again , the young girls would n’t smell out the urging , know where to obliterate or how to warn others . My first flock had to discover these things by their own wits . The chicks will learn some lessons on their own and others from their hen mentors .
Soon , they ’ll be teen chickens , with all the attitude that comes with growing sexually matured . The chicks are beginning to negotiate their pecking order , strutting their stuff , flying and chasing now that they ’re feathered out . Butterscotch , the Golden Laced Wyandotte , has taken charge of the feed trough . She stand in the sum of it , rationing the good to others .
The old hens seem to be less surprised that other chickens exist than they were before . reproducible comportment in the coop next door has taken maintenance of that . The chicks are the hens ’ acquaintances because they see each other around . As a whole , the bugs they eat are belike related . And , they all know me , of course of instruction .
Because they have so much in common , it was about time they become friend .
The Play Date
The Speckled Sussex fly the coop while I changed the chicks ’ water the other day , landing 3 ft fromHelen the Australorp . Helen did n’t oppose . The time was right to permit the two flock mix , so I let out the other chicks .
The young chicks tended to puzzle together . When one wandered off alone to search the hens , that ’s when the hen felt well-fixed assert ascendance .
The Polish , who attempted to assault one of the chicks last hebdomad , postured herself in a show of authorisation when a dame got too close . When one did n’t occupy her personal space , she follow , keep an optic out for trouble .
The Golden Wyandotte doll has an affinity for the Silver Wyandotte biddy . The little one come her everywhere . Butterscotch , who check the food rations for her chick sisters , was appall when the hen facilitate herself to the chick feed . Butterscotch tried to take her post in the center of the trough , but Pauline assert herself , crook her neck and puffing her plumage until Butterscotch back off .
If the get - together was a party , the chick provender was the slug bowl , and the chicks were search for love in all the wrong places . Everyone hold out home early .
Negotiable Roles
The complexity of chickens ’ societal monastic order is what I enjoy the most about raising the birds . They arrogate , win and negotiate , doing it all through behaviors and consistence language .
The chicks set up their pecking order could be called useless , except that it ’s ripe practice . A more complex societal structure awaits them in the established flock . And the biddy , now more curious than cautious about their new muckle mates , might not realise that as the doll rise to hen , their ordering will be bumped around , too .
Every chicken ’s role is up for snap .
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