Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: SurreyLass on September 16, 2011, 07:48
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I am sure you have all read the dramas of Tuesday evening's transfer of my new girls in with my existing girls.
Yesterday (Day 2 in the Big Chicken House), the little girls tried to stay out of the way - they both came down from the house very first thing, but after a quick feed went and hid back up in the house. One of them periodically tried to come down on and off during the day, but didnt manage more than a minute with nasty attacks from the 2 others before retreating back upstairs.
I am trying to leave them to get in with it, as there is no blood, but did put a little baracade up for half an hour at 6.00pm so they could both come down and get food and water before settling down for the night.
This morning, the poor devils havent even come out - one (same one as yesterday) has her head out of the house, but thats it.
How long do I leave it before I give them food and water in the house?
I have several feeders and water, but am unable to freerange them as our garden isnt secure at all, and we live on a VERY busy dual carriageway to the front and fox ridden woodlands to the back!
Thanks for putting up with me!
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Im a great believer in leaving them to get on with it...
Even if the big ones were not about, new chooks to a run will hide in the house and not come down in the first few days. Leave them a few days, they will come down when they are thirsty and hungry!
I wouldn’t rise to it by giving them food and water in the house.
As a note - make sure you have a couple of food and water stations (not just scattered food every where).
They will be fine don’t worry about it heh ^_^
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If it were me I would pop a drinker into the house as chooks dehydrate very very quickly! At least that way the littluns can access water! Leave the feeder out a while yet, as long as they can drink they should be ok :) leaving the feeder out in the run may intice them out when the hunger pangs get too much!! Make sure you have more than one feeder in the run so all your girls can get a fare share and escape to a vacant feeder in the case of others hogging all the grub! I have 7 chooks and have 4 feeders and 5 drinkers dotted around the garden (mine can free range thankfully)
Stick with it SurreyLass! If you have to put the barrier up again this eve so they can have their nosh before settling down for the night do it! I know it's hard and so upsetting when you have problems mixing birds. I'm still having a bit of a battle with my girls 4 weeks on! Last night all of them went into the shared winter coop apart from the baby blue, she decided the safest place was on top of the hen house!!! Yet the previoius night they all went in!! Fickle things these chooks eh? worse than having babies or hormaonal teenagers! XX
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I would leave them to get on with it. By making the devide I would not think that this will help to intregrate them.
I would simply make sure there is another food and water station they can access, to force them to venture out. Yes there will be some rough action, but it's the only way. The longer you encorage the segregation I would assume it will take longer for the existing ladies to accept the newbies.
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Leave them to get on with it... but I'm a big believer in tough love and survival of the fittest!
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Is there anywhere they can hide when they come out? We put branches in a 3 corners of the run, the bantams could get in but the large chickens couldn't.