Topic: Worried Chicken Mummy

[Ragdoll Lady]

As you know we are new to keeping Hens. We have had our three a Bovans Silver, Maran Coucou and Goldline for 6 weeks now and they have settled really well. The Silver is the boss and very 'busy' she has been laying about 4 weeks as is a few weeks older than the other two. Hubby fell in love with the Skylines and we collected our two yesterday. So now we have 5 hens and that will be our lot until we got a much larger coop (hubby doesnt know this bit yet ;)). I knew it wouldnt be easy introducing them and have read just about anything I could lay my hands on about the subject. The lady I got them from (they all came from the same place) has been helpful. I have got some antipeck spray and gentian violet and antispetic powder at the ready. The Skylines are quite skittish compared with the others. I put them in my cat run till nightfall and the others had gone to bed and then put them on the roosting bars next to their new flatmates. This morning at 5am i put in an extra water, feed and grit and opened the pop hole door. All okay for ten minutes or so and then the pecking started, not too much pecking but normal bullying. All hens now coated with anti peck spray. The coop and house is not huge but secure as is on hard standing. Normally during the day the girls can free range or if I cant watch them they have a huge day run which we move around the garden. I know i have been advised to leave them all together in the hen house/coop for 5/10 days but as its hot do you think it would be okay to put everyone in the day run as its more space. I would then put the established 3 in the secure house at night and once asleep put the other two next to them. Would this be okay do you think?>
Thanks for your help in advance, its so awful seeing the newbys bullied and I know its natural but its horrible.

[goodlife]

Ohh..somebody has been busy.. ;D..and planning a larger hut already as  well.. ;D
Yep..I would let them all into pen..they are after all in confinement and not able to wonder about and 'fly' off.. ;)
Closed up shed woud be far too hot..
But as for sleeping arrangements..leave them to decide who sleeps where..it is part of their pecking order system and the 'best' places are taken by those higher up in order. The new commers will follow the the others to the sleeping quarters and sort themselves out.. ;)
Only thing you can do now is take a 'step' back and let them be..just keep eye on water and food that they all have chance for some.
All the squabling will be soon over..really..couple of more days to go.. ;)

[Ragdoll Lady]

Thanks Goodlife you are always the voice of reason and such a good 'Egg' helping out us newbys. I will move them all to the day run in a minute and let them sort it out.
Thanks again
Linda

[goodlife]

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hanks Goodlife you are always the voice of reason and such a good 'Egg' helping out us newbysOhh..thanks. ;D.(blushing)...I'll have to print that first line out..in a LARGE print and pin it on wall for OH to see.. ::) :-X ;D...as for the second 'line'..well I've been there myself and pestering my henkeeping friends with millions of questions.. ;D It's good to share..seeds, info or experience.. ;)

[Morris]

Just to add to Goodlife's reassurance, it is horrible and you do feel so bad watching the chickens sort themselves out, but establishing a pecking order sadly has to involve pecking. And squawking, flapping, and generally making a fuss. The 'bottom' chicken is bound to look a bit miserable at first but there is nothing to be gained by separating them. They are chickens not people, and they will find their way. I bet by tonight things will have settled down.

It sounds as if you have done all the right things, and so long as there are enough feeding stations and water so that the lowly chickens can still eat and drink, they will be fine. Promise.

[Hobbitlin]

When I'm doing introductions, I try to do it gradually as this does seem to reduce (not eliminate altogether) the bullying of new hens.

I always keep new hens in a separate run and coop at the other end of the garden for at least 2 weeks as a quarantine period to make sure they are not bringing any nasties with them.

After that, I section off my main run and put the newbies in there, so the others can see them but not get at them easily.

After a week or so, I let them free range together for a few days.

After that, I let them mix and match and sort themselves out.

It really does help. Good luck with the growing family. Chicken keeping is very addictive, isn't it?  ;)

[goodlife]

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I try to do it gradually as this does seem to reduce (not eliminate altogether) the bullying of new hens.That is ideal way of doing it..if you got the room for it. Unfortunately I haven't got..so my girls have had to take the not so gentle way. But usually all problems have blown over in 2 or 3 days and I haven't seen any 'blood bath' situation as yet. But I do try to give plenty 'to do' things in their pen..just to give some distraction. I'm sure if they are bit bored the fighting would be worst as they don't have nothing better to do..

[Stedic]

Sounds like you're all sorted now, but I wanted to ask whether you could section off an area of your day run?  I use avian netting, its pretty cheap for a temporary fix.  That way the two new girls can get some space during the day, but can still square up to the others safely.

I found merging my last two flocks went well if I let them all square up in safety and then free range under supervision.  The problem I had last time was getting the 3 new ex-batts to stop fighting each other before I could merge the flocks.

It was a horrible couple of weeks for me, and I thought I'd made a mistake getting more girls.  But just as it got unbearable, they changed overnight and settled down.  Within a week of that, I found all 5 girls dustbathing under my magnolia - with my two cats for company!

[Ragdoll Lady]

Hi everybody I thought i would give you an update on how the Hens are settling in. It was a fraught few days as the poor newbys were looking really miserble at times. We had a lot of chasing in the coop and knocking everything over in site. I put lots of things in the coop for them to do, hanging greens, toys, food puzzle ball etc. The anti peck spray worked in as much as no-one was badly pecked. ITS strong stuff, hubby managed to cover me in it as he attempted to spray the hen I was holding. IT took two days to wash off ::) By the wednesday (hens put into house at night on the sat) things seemed to be dying down. Then our oldest cat packed up eating and she needed round the clock syringe feeding and most of my attention. So the hens had to get on with it a bit. Yesterday we put them in the big day run altogether and they were dust bathing all next to each other. There is still the occasional nip and flap but its 100% better than last sunday :) I will post some pictures when I can.
Thanks again everyone for your great and kind advice.
Linda