Our ten marans chicks all made it to 7 days, albeit with a couple of near-tragedies. The hen has been marvellous, and it’s fascinating to watch them in action and how they respond to her cues.
They are housed in a shed with a door we made to fit, with a small yard outside that I wired in and part-covered with old weed-cloth. I had all sorts of worries; that they wouldn’t be able to get over the threshold, or that they would get out through the chicken wire and not be able to get back in, or worse the crows would get them, but the combination of the hen’s instincts and theirs protects them well. Now they are very mobile, either playing or fighting (I’m not sure which) when they are not feeding or under the hen, and very cute.
I was happy to get this photo of them which might help me tell them apart. Cute eh? The hen is pretty good with me now and walked away to let me photograph. Apparently with the Marans breed it helps to handle the chicks often to make them tame enough later.
This morning another hen sneaked in behind me and I was curious what the reaction would be. She was basically interested in pinching some of the chick feed, but the foster hen was having none of it and chased her round aggressively. Then she had a go at another chicken that was hanging around outside the fence. So I don’t think I need to have worries about the rest of the flock. I will let the chicks out of the enclosure in a couple of weeks and see what the foster hen decides about introducing them to the others.