Combination

Backyard Poultry

Joining the Roost

Did you spot the newcomer on the roost above? Yes, it's the little brown Rhode Island Red! Finally, it was time to combine the two little flocks of chicks. The Rhode Island Reds had grown big enough that I thought they could hold their own in the older flock. Anyway, they had certainly grown big enough to be very crowded in their little pen. Also, and just as importantly, they had graduated from chick feed to grower feed, and thus could eat the same thing as the larger flock. The chick feed has a higher protein content, needed for the extraordinarily fast growth the chicks experience in the first few weeks of life. At around 3 weeks, they can move to grower feed with a lower protein level. The combination went quite smoothly: the Reds were happy to explore the living quarters they had only been able to see for so long, and the older chicks seemed to take the Reds right in as part of the flock.

Sleepy Time

As you can see, the Reds seemed to fit right in. In fact, they seemed to almost see the older chicks as some sort of surrogate mothers!