Whoopsy-Daisy!

We had a big whoopsy-daisy this weekend.  

I went out to collect eggs and give the birds some more straw Sunday evening.  I walked into the run and felt this feeling like: something is wrong here!  It took me a minute to put my finger on it, but then it hit me.  The birds were all mixed up.  The "babies" had been in their own run and henhouse but somehow they got in with the adults.

You can see in the picture above some of the little girls (I guess they are like teenagers now) in the background.  

I stood there in the run observing for a few minutes.  I saw an occasional older hen peck at a smaller one, but nothing crazy or worrisome.  I breathed a sigh of relief!  

So I set about opening all the doors we had sealed shut to keep the generations separate.  There was one between the henhouses and one in the run.  The laying hens were happy to have access to a bunch of nesting boxes again, which they hadn't been able to get to with the babies in there.  

Some of the bravest little ones even ventured out the automatic chicken door to check out the yard.  

I came inside and asked my husband, "Did you mix the birds together?"

He stared at me in wonderment, then finally asked, "What did you say?"  I said, "The babies are all mixed in with the adults but I couldn't see how it happened.  I was freaking out but they actually seem okay.  Did you mix them up?"  

He said no so we concluded that maybe when someone went in the baby run earlier in the day, the latch didn't catch to lock the door and some babies got out.   Then the wind must have later blown it closed.  

Anyway, however it happened, I guess they were letting us know they were ready to join the rest of the flock.  So now we are officially integrated back into one flock, at least for a month or two until we get more babies...