I haven’t written anything about the chickens lately so thought I should bring you all up to speed.
Mabel and Daisy are just about grown up. They are plump now and within about a half pound of where Flossie and Mambo are. Their combs are starting to fill out and now “cluck” instead of “peep”.
We got them in mid February so that makes them ~4 months old. They should start laying at about 5 months if they are on the same schedule as Mambo and Flossie were last year. So maybe in another few weeks? We’ll see.
I started letting them all spend time together in the big run about a month ago, and it was a tough adjustment for the new ones. Mambo is definitely at the top of the pecking order and she would jump up on the new ones’ back and go at them if they got too close. Flossie was a little more laid back, but would help Mambo chase them off if they got too close to the food trough. Lots of flying feathers and squawking going on, but I only saw blood drawn once. Things seem to have settled down now though, with Flossie and Mabel being the centrists, Mambo on the aggressive side, and Daisy the meekest. Its been interesting to watch how the merger has played out.
I extended the run off of the main coop with some vinyl coated green fencing, so they have ~10′ x 2′ x 2′ “tunnel” to run in. We haven’t been at the house to put them to bed each night and lock them in like we used to, so I am not sure if they are all sleeping in the house or not. I doubt that the old ones are letting the new ones in there though, its more likely that they are just roosting on the feed trough. I would prefer that they go inside to lay once they start producing eggs, but not sure how to facilitate that.
I am not in the mood right now to take on a coop re-design, so I will need to think about it some. Anyone have suggestions?
