The pictures aren’t examples, just showing what they all look like
I feel like an anxious parent typing this, but I haven’t seemed to find a good resource for my situation.
We lost a couple chickens this winter bringing us down to only 2, a buff and a speckled sussex. So in March I purchased three chicks to make up for what we lost.
The chicks (two easters and an australorp) are now 8 weeks and we’ve been working on introducing them, but this is something I’ve never done and I don’t know how to tell the difference between normal pecking order and the chicks actually being in danger.
So far, the two hens have been giving the occasional peck when near the chicks, but our Sussex recently chased and stepped on one of the easters. She seemed totally chill after I intervened and then went back to watching. My roommate has also said the hens have been plucking the australorp’s feathers. She’s missing a few on her head now.
If you have any tips or videos I can compare or just reassurance that this is normal, I’d really appreciate it. I’m not really sure what I can do or if I even need to do anything.