At the first sign of the hen acting aggressively then remove the chicks and hand feed them until they are able to fend for themselves. Moving home Even when chicks are feeding themselves and everything seems fine, it is essential that once they are moved into the baby cage, that they are monitored on a regular basis. You will sometimes find that the youngsters feed each other, but each evening check that the crops are full and if not, top them up with a proprietary hand-rearing food They are given softfood every morning and minerals are put in a side dish together with a little tonic seed to encourage the appetite and make sure they are not checked in their growth at this point. I leave the chicks in the baby cage until they are around 8 - 10 weeks and then transfer them to a 6' x 3' flight. Each chick is treated with Ivermectin on the back of the neck to deal with parasites, both internal and external.
Food is placed on the floor of the flight so that they get plenty of exercise at feeding time.
However, it is still important to see that they have found the food and the water and that one particular chick is not terrorizing the others. Bullying is not confined to schools. They have ample perching space made from young tree branches, which give them something to chew as well as providing varying thickness' for their feet. Toys are hung from the roof and they can't resist trying out brightly coloured plastic coat hangers, linked together, dangling in front of them. As they grow and go through the first moult, then the future show team starts to emerge and I can spend a considerable amount of time just watching them and assessing their good and bad points.