[Chablis Dog]

Have I just been unlucky or is this normal practice?  I bought four marran cuckoo chicks at 7 weeks old from the local market.  I also have a four week old chick (Pippy) hatched by my broody hen.  The difference in their behaviours is quite enormous and I am putting it down to the fact that one lot were hatched artificially and one normally.  Pippy seems to have more sense than the four other chicks put together.  The marrans are positively stupid to the extent of lacking even a survival instinct.  One of them wandered through a tiny hole in the stock fencing into the garden and was seen off by my Pointer immediately.  Then Sunday the dog grabbed (through a tiny hole) one of the chicks who was obviously too close to the stock fencing.  Miraculously I managed to save her.  What do I find a few days later?  She is only pecking around at the side of the stock fencing obviously having learned nothing about what dangers lurk just a few inches away.  They can't even complain of being short of space, given the hen paddock is at least a quarter of an acre if not more.   In the meantime I have of course put a load of chicken wire on one side of the stock fencing and three rows of electrified cord on the side containing my dogs (which still has very little effect, it must be admitted!).  They also range around in the paddock too far away from the hanger (ie safety) so that if a buzzard was so minded, could find himself a tasty treat.  My home hatched chick would never be so stupid.  I was hoping the chicks would learn from the existing flock of one coq, two hens and Pippy the chick but they resolutely refuse to integrate into the current flock.   I wanted to buy some more chicks when I lost the first one but can't face dealing with the traumas that these stupid birds cause.  Is their stupidity caused by the breed, by being bred artificially or have I just been unlucky.  I would be interested to hear of others' experiences of incubator bred chicks.