Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: bajmoe on March 05, 2014, 19:43
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we got our new girls 3 weeks ago, we can pick up the ranger,columbine, speckledy, black star, to put them out in the large run, but we are unable to get anywhere near the white star, she is very skittish and sees me coming long before i can get anywhere near her, has anyone got any ideas?
I have tried unsuccessfully to get close using treats
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We had to resort to a net with one of our black rocks, it was very stressful tho for us and the chicken.
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you run is separate from your house?
why do you pick them up to move them?
mine hate being handled, but my bantam hates he wings being held in and prefers to sit on a hand.
get them used to handling by doing it at dusk as they go to bed. also try sitting in with them and do corn closer to you until they eat out or the hand..beware of the beak.
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The hens coop is in a 8 sq mt run, they also have access to a much larger 80 sq mt run so they can free range, but i have to pick the hens up to move them the 2 metres away to the larger run, all the hens are ok with that except the white star, and yes they all feed from my hand
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If she feeds from your hand, can you not just tempt her along for those couple of metres?
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To get my ladies to go in when I need them to, I just shake a tin of mealworms, or sunflower seeds and they come running. Putting the tin in the run (unopened) gets them to go in. They are conned every time.......
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To get my ladies to go in when I need them to, I just shake a tin of mealworms, or sunflower seeds and they come running. Putting the tin in the run (unopened) gets them to go in. They are conned every time.......
A neat trick that works well :D :D
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hi cant you link them up somehow with posts and wire then you could juct chuck corn or treats in the part you want them to go in, then shut it off when there in. the odd time my orpingtons get out i let them go into a corner then grab them. there not as friendly as the others x
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I had to do this last summer with my news hens. I carried just one of them to where ever I wanted them all to be, which ever one I could catch, and as it hated being on its own it called very noisily for the others. Hearing its distress they all dashed over to it. I repeated this in the evening too. After a few days they had learned the routine and just went from their house to the enclosure as soon as I opened the doors. I did however stand by with a large net just in case! Good luck.
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Hens normally follow you if they think treats are about but if you really have to catch a flighty hen a good quality childs pond net is the tool of choice , light and manouverable and will not damage her ! :)
Aim to get her in a corner !
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Thanks I will try the suggestions, fingers crossed , will let you know how I got on ;)
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Well finally got our girls out into a larger run, we moved the 4 girls first whilst the white star watched, my wife managed to grab her, they loved being let out in my winter brassica bed, got the 4 girls back ok , re catching the white star was very difficult, she escaped the large run and was free, thats it we thought we will never catch her, but it was a combination of corn or wanting to get back with her mates she entered the smaller run by her self, that was lucky
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is it not possible to build a tunnel so they could go between runs?
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my larger run is portable and will be moved around my allotment, depending on the growing season, so a fixed solution is not really possible :unsure:
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To get my ladies to go in when I need them to, I just shake a tin of mealworms, or sunflower seeds and they come running. Putting the tin in the run (unopened) gets them to go in. They are conned every time.......
That's what I do with mine. Works a treat!! They'll follow me anywhere :D
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Problem solved, catching my white star has just got a little easier, shes started laying, when i approach her she momentarily squats giving me an opportunity to catch her, if i'm quick, now i can let them out onto the larger run :D
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Try a trail of meal worms. Works a treat! No pun intended!
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Dont they eat your cabbages? Cabbages dont las long with our lot.
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The hens are on my winter brassica bed, it's nearly finished with, there's that much of it,they only eat the outer Leaves of the cabbage and cauliflower anyway, by far their favourite brassica is kale especially cavolo Nero,(black Tuscan) and when the spring brassica bed is nearly finished I'll move the girls onto that bed and so on, I'm told that's why my yolks are so yellow.
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May I suggest you use debris netting to keep them in rather than normal veg netting as they can get intangled in it.
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It's poultry fencing, the bottom half has 5cm holes which they can just about get there heads through, plus I'm always present while they are in the large run.
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Your hens are lucky ladies. I'm not so good at growing cabbage. The ones I manage to grow are usually full of caterpillars, so they get some meat with their greens. This time of year I'll buy them a cabbage every few days and it's all gone in a very short time. I grow chard and they love that but I read somewhare that it was bad for them :ohmy: so I dont let them have it any more.
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I was thinking of trying to grow some chard this year, more for us than the hens but will think twice if its bad for them. Do you know what it is about chard that's bad for them?
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A long cane in either hand is quite useful to round them up and direct them where you want them to do if you can't get close enough with a net or they don't respond to rattling treats. Also locking the others up in the coop can be a good way to get a stray girl in (she doesn't want to miss out on what the others are up to...).
I once spent 2 hours trying to round up my girls and the cockerel so resorted to all of these to get them into their run. Ho hum - keeps you fit I suppose... :D
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I expect chard is the same as other things , only bad in excess. I have fed spinach beet and beetroot leaves with no problem at all.
The only veg that i found has bad effects on them is lettuce.
If a hen overdoes it with lettuce it gives them the scours something 'orrible ! :(
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It will probably be the stemmy bits that are bad for them :)