New chicks after one week.

We've had the new chicks for a week now.   We didn't have any issues with the hen accepting them as her own.  We've been keeping them in a pen on their own so the other layers get used them being around. 

So tonight I decided to prop up the front of the pen to let them out.  Guess what happened?

Our Rhode Island Red chicken promptly went  into the pen and started eating the chick feed. 

I buy them soy-free, GMO-free, organic feed and she decides to eat the starter feed for the chicks.  This was a first.  When I first got the soy-free stuff, I put it out along side the Purina pellet feed that I had been using.  They ignored the Purina pellets and only ate the soy-free feed.  My wife thinks that she's just showing the new birds who is boss.  That could be the case.  She's at the top of the pecking order.

 The new hen and her chicks did venture out of the pen, but they didn't go far.

Momma hen is very confrontational and is ready to defend her babies!  She's spazzed out at the dog more then a few times this week.

The hen and her chicks made their way to feeder under the coop.  I don't know if they ate any of the feed there or not.

I'm going to start letting them out every day from now on.  There were a few skirmishes between the mother hen and some of the layers, but I think she can hold her own.