Good job! :) Sounds like the Chicken Delight distraction worked.

Don't be surprised if the youngsters still suffer once in a while at the beaks of the big girls, at least until the kids come into lay and elevate themselves to 'Big Girl' status. :)

Velvet ~:>

I'd like to move four Rhode Island reds in with my 12 oldest girls, but I put one in the other night and she looked very unhappy in the morning. They bit her comb a little, but mainly, I'm afraid, they called her names and said mean things to her. She looked hurt. I may do what I did one other time---move 11 old chickens out of their home and put one old girl in with four young hens. A few days after they get acquainted, I'll add another old hen until I get 16 living together. It worked one other time.

I'm just worried that by taking four birds, I might be breaking up some friends. I have a speckled sussex who has a best friend---a brown leghorn. Maybe all chickens have a best friend.

I've let them run together for the past few days. All has gone as well as can be expected. Every now and then a little girl will find herself in the midst of the bigger ones and panic. I cleaned the coop today...OMWord!!! What a job that was! I didn't even sanitize or do anything else that y'all talk about. I cleaned out the old stuff and put in new, PERIOD. By the end of it I was glad to have the energy to put fresh straw back, LOL!! I did note that my chickens are better mousers than my cats! Too tired to tell that story :) Lori