Chicks Move Out or The Old Mother Hen Takes Them Under Her Wing

The chick's home for one month- a blue tote with a window screen on top.

Meredith tries to call the chicks to come inside and go to bed.  They don't listen.

On Saturday the chicks moved from their home, a big blue tote, out in to the real world.  This was an exciting experience for them.  Before this, they had blue plastic boundaries.  There was no in and no out.  There was no night and no day.  Often night was brightly lit and warm while day was sometimes darker.  Worried that the chicks and Meredith might not get along, I set the blue tote next to her coop for three days so they could get used to each other's noises.  I let Meredith out of her coop to take a dust bath and run her usual route under the bird feeders and through both compost heaps. While she was out in the yard,  I cleaned out the coop and put the chicks into it.  They went crazy out of the blue tote.  They ran,  they jumped, they tried to fly,  they did chest bumps in the air. After an hour every inch of grass in the run was trampled and pecked at.  To me, all the chicks but one look the same.  One chick is a little smaller and has a browner tail.  Otherwise I can't tell them apart so they are not named yet.  Meredith strolled by the run and I believe she noticed the chicks in there but she did not react.  Usually when she sees me put her fresh food in the coop, she rushes to get in there but not this time.  She thought about it and then strolled away.  I decided to let her have a few more minutes to stroll.  I really didn't want to force her into the coop of chicks if she wasn't ready.  Besides, the darker it gets the more unaware she becomes.  When it's truly dark she acts like she is in a coma and if she's in a coma, she won't attack the chicks. By sunset she was sitting on top of the coop so I calmly put her away and shut the door.  The chicks were all outside in the run still running around like crazy.  Where do they get the energy?  I saw no fighting so that was a good sign.  I worried Meredith might attack one or more of the chicks.  She might not have liked having six new coop mates.  On the other hand, it's been over a year since Pamela died and maybe these chicks will bring her pleasant companionship.  By the time it got dark the chicks still did not go into the coop.  They're not used to going into anything.  This was their first experience of in and out.  They didn't know enough to go in at night.  Worried they might not know enough to go to bed and they might get too cold outside, I tried to put them into the coop. I grabbed two and put them in and before I could grab more, those two came running out screaming at the top of their chicken lungs.  Then they all panicked.  I gave up at that point.  At 9:30, when it was darker outside, I tried again.  I put two in and they stayed while I put the last four in.   This morning all six chicks were outside running around like usual.  They don't know enough to come in out of the rain.  I ended up putting a vinyl table cloth over the run so they don't get too wet.  There is peace in the valley though and that is what is important.  All the chickens are getting along so far.  That is a huge relief.