Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: Aidy on May 27, 2016, 12:35
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I hate it, proper hate it.
we have lost a couple of chucks due to fine old age and the time has come to introduce new stock, I have yet to find the perfect way, there will be scrapping, bitching all sorts of chaos, why cant they just get on from the start!
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The only time we have had a totally trauma free introduction of new birds was the last. We bought a couple of pol hens from our local 'chicken man' and duly confined them to the inner run so that the other two chickens could get used to seeing them. After the first day the older birds totally ignored them, this after the newbies had taken affront at being stared at and had flown at the wire screeching and flapping their wings. This made the oldies think twice about even approaching the wire. I let the new girls out on the second day and it was as if they had always lived as a flock. What the old girls didn't know was that these newbies had been reared in a field with Rheas, and after having coped with something that size, it was going to take more than a mere chicken to intimidate them.
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What the old girls didn't know was that these newbies had been reared in a field with Rheas, and after having coped with something that size, it was going to take more than a mere chicken to intimidate them.
What a great story :lol: :lol: :lol:
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I had 4 up to last week. I've bought 4 more, safety in even amount of numbers, and I split the run. In the new run was a box for nesting, spring cabbage and corn cobs in both, food and grit etc in both. I then introduced the head hen of the oldies into the newbie run. I swapped her for each of the other 3 to ascertain who would be the worse. Eventually after 5 days I removed the fence still making sure food etc was even,y distributed through the run. Only 2 out the oldies were even bothered and when they had a go I was there with a water pistol, my hand and I also grabbed hold of their neck feathers and pulled hard! Don't actually hear much squabbling during the day but I still have to put them away at night.