I have a 9-week-old Creme Legbar cockerel who's had two toes that are bent 90° sideways since week two or so. At first, I thought "whatever. It's a cockerel. I'll only spare one in the end anyway, I'll just cull the ones with deformities". So I didn't do anything about it.
You might already...
A friend of mine found 3 mallard hatchlings by their dead mother and is now raising them, giving them fodder, a heat source, and letting them roam around in an outdoor cage and take the occasional bath. After a very short while they started seeing my friend as their "mother" and follow her...
Interesting. This is a topic that's very neglected in articles I've read.
How do wild geese "enrich themselves"? I mean, chickens scratch and explore all day; what's the goose equivalent of that? Knowing that can make it a lot easier to come up with enrichment ideas...
Hello!
I have owned chickens for a decade, and dabbled in muscovy duck keeping. I'm thinking about geese.
Now, I know that chickens are highly curious. They hate "boring" runs that only consist of a patch of dirt. Also, chickens have agoraphobia and like to hang out in bushes. Chickens...
By 16 weeks of age, you can probably treat them as adults for all intents and purposes.
You can certainly feed them adult feed, and you can put them in with the older ladies, but of course with the usual precautions needed for introduction of new flock members.
Wy not let them go out from day one? If they have the opportunity to get to a heated and wind-less space? If a hen gets chicks, she takes them out at day one...