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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