First, I did something really boneheaded last night. I fed the chicks as soon as I got home last night because I had to run off with my fellow Elders to pray over a member of our congregation with health problems. When I got back, I forgot to go back and close up the coop. Luckily, there were no marauding raccoons or rabid badgers around to get in and decimate the flock.

Now for the quandary I'm in. I've been planning to let the chicks loose this weekend. They're six weeks old now, and I think they're big enough to make their way among the Reds. When I go in to feed them, they rush to greet me, and they peck at my shoes when I step into their area. When I reach for their feeder, the stupid things think that food has magically appeared inside and rush it, so I have to shoo them away. And they peck the food down in a matter of minutes after I give them the refilled feeder.

So I'm thinking that they need to be out where they can feed themselves and start pecking around in the barnyard for grass and bugs and juicy worms.

The thing is, this morning I found the empty skin of a soft-shelled egg in the barnyard - which means that the Reds are settled after the departure of the Rosses and are getting into laying mode again. I'm afraid if I loose the chicks into the general population, it'll upset the apple cart and the Reds will take another couple weeks off from laying.

On the other hand, if I wait until the Reds are laying full steam in another couple of weeks, will loosing the chicks create a halt in production while things get resettled?

Maybe it's best to delay production now - if that's what will happen.

I just don't know.

Guess I'll post the question on the Backyard Chicken's message boards and see what the experienced folk say.