The Farm*Homestead*Garden Blog

All things farm, garden, homestead related from the Catsndogs4us family.

Our life on a wild, woodland homestead.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Newest flock members growing fast, brooder upgrades, outdoor time and getting to know the adult flock

The growing chicks graduated from their first brooder into a larger cage/brooder about a week ago. The upgrades give them more space and some sticks for perches. We have two cages going so I can swap them back and forth now to give the chicks more to do and have a place to put them when I'm cleaning one brooder. I've also started bringing them outside on the nicer days just for an hour or so in a sunny spot. They're slowly getting to know the flock they will join as well as getting natural grit and finding a few bugs here and there. The chicks range from 4 weeks down to not quite 2 weeks now since we added two more littles. The two littles are supposed to be Black Marans but I think they're actual bantams and the store made a mistake. They're definitely not Marans. Oh well next year for a couple more Black Copper marans and those super dark eggs. Before long this group will move out to the coop, in a separate area. That way the flock will see them for several weeks before they are able to touch them. When we transition new chicks they usually sleep in a dog kennel cage within the coop and then have their own run area sectioned off outside for daytime. This works well and after several weeks I can let all the birds mingle without any trouble because they have lived together and seen each other for awhile.








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