It looks like Buffy had Independence Day on her mind when she decided that it was time that her 4 baby Welsummers needed to learn to fend for themselves.
For the first couple of days they would tag along with Buffy for food, but she no longer makes that clucking noise letting them know where to find the food. Buff wants to hunt for bugs with the other hens or eats her own food just for herself instead making sure the Wellie babies get their share first. By the middle of the week the babies got the message and now fend for themselves at the feeder and forage for themselves when they're free-ranging; so now they've formed their own little 4-girl flock.
Before Buff "pushed them out of the nest", when I would lock them up at night the babies would be under the cover of Buffy's wings away from the other hens on a far roost. But now Buff has taken up her old place and sleeps with the other layers and the little Wellie girls are still on the far roost but sleeping bunched up together without a mamma hen. And now there is that familiar pinkish brown egg to make up 7 eggs in the nest box again every day :)
They seem to have taken to it well, but like all teenagers they like to stay up late doing Lord-knows-what and forget to get into the henhouse with the rest of the girls when it's dark. One morning when I went to unlock the henhouse I saw 3 of the 4 fly out of the holly tree in the henyard! They must've been out hunting bugs late because I didn't lock everyone up until about 9 pm (the hens usually hit the roost by 8 - but those ducks like to stay out late).
My little Welsummer cockerel (see him at the bottom of this page) decided a few weeks ago that he absolutely was NOT sleeping in the henhouse and would rather roost up in the holly tree - no amount of convincing was getting him to change his mind either. But I guess those baby Welsummer girls figured they'd roost with him for the night since they'd missed curfew. He's a scrapper already by the way he bosses those big ducks (the Chickens boss him terribly so I guess he's lashing out) and I reckon they were as safe as they could have been outside of their house. I still tsk'd at them and told them that if that foolish young cockerel didn't have enough sense to be in the safety of the henhouse they sure didn't have to follow his example by making themselves owl food too! Now I do a flashlight headcount when I lock up the doors at night. I haven't had any more trouble so far. :)
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For the first couple of days they would tag along with Buffy for food, but she no longer makes that clucking noise letting them know where to find the food. Buff wants to hunt for bugs with the other hens or eats her own food just for herself instead making sure the Wellie babies get their share first. By the middle of the week the babies got the message and now fend for themselves at the feeder and forage for themselves when they're free-ranging; so now they've formed their own little 4-girl flock.
Before Buff "pushed them out of the nest", when I would lock them up at night the babies would be under the cover of Buffy's wings away from the other hens on a far roost. But now Buff has taken up her old place and sleeps with the other layers and the little Wellie girls are still on the far roost but sleeping bunched up together without a mamma hen. And now there is that familiar pinkish brown egg to make up 7 eggs in the nest box again every day :)
They seem to have taken to it well, but like all teenagers they like to stay up late doing Lord-knows-what and forget to get into the henhouse with the rest of the girls when it's dark. One morning when I went to unlock the henhouse I saw 3 of the 4 fly out of the holly tree in the henyard! They must've been out hunting bugs late because I didn't lock everyone up until about 9 pm (the hens usually hit the roost by 8 - but those ducks like to stay out late).
My little Welsummer cockerel (see him at the bottom of this page) decided a few weeks ago that he absolutely was NOT sleeping in the henhouse and would rather roost up in the holly tree - no amount of convincing was getting him to change his mind either. But I guess those baby Welsummer girls figured they'd roost with him for the night since they'd missed curfew. He's a scrapper already by the way he bosses those big ducks (the Chickens boss him terribly so I guess he's lashing out) and I reckon they were as safe as they could have been outside of their house. I still tsk'd at them and told them that if that foolish young cockerel didn't have enough sense to be in the safety of the henhouse they sure didn't have to follow his example by making themselves owl food too! Now I do a flashlight headcount when I lock up the doors at night. I haven't had any more trouble so far. :)
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