Hannibal - Red Ring - wasn't happy at being alone in the brooder in the kitchen. I felt awful for himher, but I would have felt even worse if we'd left himher in with the others and then came down in the morning to find more bloodshed. Chicks can tend to be copycats (copychooks, perhaps), and we don't want this behaviour to spread.
This morning, he was fine, cheeping everytime we walked past him. In the shed, one of the chicks had escaped the big brooder and was sitting on the spare Eglu panel which was acting as a roof of the second brooder. Hmm. They have reached the stage of using the Electric Hen (EH) as a launch pad, so we were going to need to put some form of roof on it now, especially as the EH needs raising again.
The four injured chicks were under their smaller EH. I called anc clucked, and a head appeared. I clucked a bit more, and two heads appeared. In the end, I had to put my hand under the EH, and all 4 little chicks appeared. At least we didn't lose the one who had been most injured.
I left them at that point, as DH and I are putting the extension on the Go run and putting a more thought-out netting run around. When the two door arrive - hopefully later today - we can replace the appropriate panels. We can then put them out - separating the injured chicks initially - and reintroduce Hannibal and see what s/he does.
Wish us luck. I'll let you know how we get on.
This morning, he was fine, cheeping everytime we walked past him. In the shed, one of the chicks had escaped the big brooder and was sitting on the spare Eglu panel which was acting as a roof of the second brooder. Hmm. They have reached the stage of using the Electric Hen (EH) as a launch pad, so we were going to need to put some form of roof on it now, especially as the EH needs raising again.
The four injured chicks were under their smaller EH. I called anc clucked, and a head appeared. I clucked a bit more, and two heads appeared. In the end, I had to put my hand under the EH, and all 4 little chicks appeared. At least we didn't lose the one who had been most injured.
I left them at that point, as DH and I are putting the extension on the Go run and putting a more thought-out netting run around. When the two door arrive - hopefully later today - we can replace the appropriate panels. We can then put them out - separating the injured chicks initially - and reintroduce Hannibal and see what s/he does.
Wish us luck. I'll let you know how we get on.
