Yesterday I decided to mix the girls for a while. Most of the main flock took no notice of the new girls. It’s always the bottom girls that are the ones to watch as they want to insure the new girls are at the bottom so that they can move up the pecking order.
Top girl Sugar doesn’t find them a threat and accepted them alongside of her. Autumn has been the only one taking notice of them through the wire but yesterday she was so busy digging in the new girls half of the run that she didn’t notice them. Dot chased Red when she got near her. But it all went smoothly and I think it’s going to be easy to integrate them when the time comes.
The main issue will be the new girls being confident enough to get to the food dishes but as usual I will put extra feeding stations in the run for a while. It’s going to be a while before Red is old enough to have layers pellets but the more I mix them now the easier the eventual transition should be.
I am very happy with how their first time together went. I will keep giving them some time together every few days to let them get used to each other.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Brilliant, Carol – almost there, it seems. You’re a dab hand at this game.:)
I have had plenty of practice. I look back at our first integrations and they were horrible. I have definitely got better at this as we have gone along.
They look peaceful together. A lovely flock of girls.
It went better than I expected. I am looking forward to eventually having them together.