How to Introduce a New Hen

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HI Prechickenlady! First off I see that you are relatively new to the forums so Welcome!

I don't have much advice for you but one thing I did want to mention about leaving the door open at night is to make sure that absolutely nothing can get into the run, you don't want a racoon or stray dog or other predator finding a way in to get your birds, also, leaving the door open at night leaves a nice big opening for mice to get in, they will eat your eggs if the chickens don't find them first and also bring all kinds of things like lice and mites to your birds. Mice generally try to do most of their moving around and food hunting at night or the wee hours of the morning ("blue light" it's sometimes called) when birds are sleeping. If your run is Fort Knox equivalent then I would agree with the others that have answered and leave the door open (weather permitting) but just be absolutely sure that your girls are safe. I also like the idea of waiting until everyone has gone to roost and then putting that lone girl on the roost. After dark of course.

Good luck!
 
I live in northern South Carolina so we are still fairly warm at night (well I don't think it is warm but around 50-60 degrees). My run is approximately 70-80 square feet but it could totally be bigger that is just my non-mathematical guess. Also, my coop is 4 feet by 6 feet if I am remembering correctly and that is not including the 2 nesting boxes. I don't have a lot of hiding spaces in the run but I do have some stumps up against the fence that I am going to move to a corner so she has a place to jump behind if necessary. Inside the coop she has the 2 nesting boxes she can use as well as the roost and we also build a staircase type ramp against one wall to the roost that she can hide under or she can sit on the landing and no one can get her. My rooster left this morning and my husband is taking him to work so he can give him to the guy that is giving us the hen but also taking Nuggets.
 
Sylie said:
HI Prechickenlady! First off I see that you are relatively new to the forums so Welcome!

I don't have much advice for you but one thing I did want to mention about leaving the door open at night is to make sure that absolutely nothing can get into the run, you don't want a racoon or stray dog or other predator finding a way in to get your birds, also, leaving the door open at night leaves a nice big opening for mice to get in, they will eat your eggs if the chickens don't find them first and also bring all kinds of things like lice and mites to your birds. Mice generally try to do most of their moving around and food hunting at night or the wee hours of the morning ("blue light" it's sometimes called) when birds are sleeping. If your run is Fort Knox equivalent then I would agree with the others that have answered and leave the door open (weather permitting) but just be absolutely sure that your girls are safe. I also like the idea of waiting until everyone has gone to roost and then putting that lone girl on the roost. After dark of course.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you! I am going to try to attach some pictures of my coop and run later. My coop is actually right next to my garden (I split my garden in half when I finally convinced my husband to get chickens) and my garden is raised about three feet because it is build in the sloping part of my yard. Where the chickens are is where we had to build most of the garden up so there is really no way for animals to burrow under unless they then want to try and dig up 3 feet to even get to the run. Where the run is attached to the garden we buried the steel wire and put some landscaping pacers there to deter any digging there. The run also has a secure top on it that is covered in wire again to keep anything from trying to come in that way. Our coop is also built off the ground to make it level with the garden so any animal that wanted to get in would have to climb the legs of the coop and then chew through solid wood to get in. Not saying something wont try but hopefully they realize it is not worth the effort.
 
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Wow! Very nice set up you have there, looks like it's secure enough. Very beautiful birds also. I noticed the flooring in your coop, it looks just like mine! The pattern looks exactly the same haha!

Beautiful job you guys did. I'm sure your flock will be happy there (once the issues are sorted through).
 
Sylie said:
Wow! Very nice set up you have there, looks like it's secure enough. Very beautiful birds also. I noticed the flooring in your coop, it looks just like mine! The pattern looks exactly the same haha!

Beautiful job you guys did. I'm sure your flock will be happy there (once the issues are sorted through).
Click to expand...
Thanks! My husband is an engineer and really went to town on making it secure. I ordered my hens from an online place and I'm really happy with them. Hopefully they will start laying soon though.... I did put tiles down in the coop to make it easier to clean and I then put sand down.
 
I use pine shavings on my floor. I have considered sand but I've heard that sand harbors mites so I decided to stick with the pine shavings. I've also read that the chickens may/do eat the sand and it acts like cement in their crop, I don't know if that's true, you'll have to let me know how that works for you because it would sure be an easier solution (and cheaper) than pine shavings.

How old are your girls? Usually most start laying around 22 weeks old, more or less.
 
Hi, from the pics I can't see how the runs are covered at the top. Just keep in mind that rodents climb right up hardware cloth to wherever there's an opening big enough for them to get in. So if your runs are not completely sealed in, including the roofs, you should lock your coop during the night and make sure there is no feed left in the run overnight, because feed attracts them. I had an opening between adjoined runs and rodents were having nightly feasts on the feed....yuck. Now they are completely sealed, and it's warm enough here, so my small chicken access coop doors can stay open at night.
 
I never thought about keeping the coop open at night during the warmer months, is that something to consider? Right now we are in the middle of a nice cold rain so I will be keeping it closed probably through the winter.
 
My little coop doors (the little 6x8 inch chicken doors) stay open at night, but the little chicken doors lead to very very secure locked runs and we live in Southern California, where it's not too cold at night. My hens come out of their coops right after sunrise, and then I open their chicken runs so they can get into their chicken yard a little later, like 7 am. The chicken yard is much less secure, with no roof but only a six-foot fence all around.
 

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