Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: flangey on July 20, 2009, 13:37
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I'm still a bit of a novice, three months to be precise, I have 6 hybrid girls, all happy and content laying etc etc. I was always going to add to my girls as I have plenty of room and a house that will take up to 10 birds. (not a chinese import)! A friend of a friend of a friend is trying to rehome some hens, 2 Anconas and 3 ex battery. I havn't seen them yet, but if I am going to take them, how should I intergrate them with my current girls (when I brought them home, kept them in their house for 24 hours etc)? If I dont want all of them, is it like other animals where they shouldn't be separated i.e all of them or none at all? or should I stick to a supplier I know and trust? Also, what sort of personalities do Anconas have? ..........OR should I just give them a good home and stop being so pathetic!!!! :blush:
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I would keep them in quarantine (for a week i think people say?) just to make sure they dont give any nasties to your girls. some people put them straight in to get on with it, others have them in a run next to the existing flock so they cant all see each other for about a week then introduce! another way is to wait till dark and pop the new ones into the hen house and they all wake up together! i have tried all 3 ways and there is still always fighting to establish the pecking order! 1 thing to remember though is to put down extra feeders and drinkers as most fights happen over food! dont forget the pictures when they arrive ;)
Debbie