Chicks' New Digs

All the chicks have been relocated from the garage out to the goat shed. 

The two batches of kittens on the chicken side of the shed made the relocation more complicated than it should have been, but I think we have everything in place now.

Note the hen on top of the nesting boxes. She likes to roost up there and we moved her layer crumble up there as well. Unfortunately, she seems to enjoy eating the chicks' grower feed. 

Dixie isn't a huge fan of the babies and tolerates them for the most part. I have seen her peck their heads if they get too close to her.

G hung the waterer and the feeder so that they are not resting on the ground. That has helped with food waste and water spillage. I have a long-term plan to make a new bulk feeder and waterer that don't need to be hung to prevent waste, but that has been low on the to-do list. 

We started out with both the bigger chicks and little chicks all in the same area with the cats. But the next day when I came out to check on them, we were missing one of the little chicks. We searched everywhere and never found it. I suspect one of the mama cats enjoyed a meal brought right to her doorstep. The interesting thing is we never saw any feathers indicating it was a meal. 

As a precaution, we moved the remaining four little chicks into a separate area that would be harder for the cats to get into (the cats leave the bigger chicks alone). 

Unfortunately this blocks the mama cats from getting in and out of where their kittens are. We had to set up boards so the cats could climb out. So far everyone has been able to get where they need to be.

The big chicks are very happy on their side of the fence. They have access to go outside but don't seem interested at this point in time. They're content to give themselves dust baths in the straw while the cats watch over them.