jameverywhere
Chirping
- Mar 6, 2021
- 26
- 44
- 67
Hello all! I'm asking this a few months before I really need an answer, but I want some help figuring out the best way to deal with my specific issue.
I currently have three feral rescue birds, two hens and a roo (who I will be getting rid of shortly--he's a pretty boy but I live in a suburban area). They're basically game birds--hate being handled, can fly very well, sometimes choose to roost in trees instead of the coop. In fact I've started feeding them in the run in the evenings and locking them in so that they have no choice but to sleep in there, otherwise one of them will inevitably be missing.
But I wanted to get some birds that I knew would reliably lay me eggs... and, ngl, I wanted some chickens that would be cuddlier than my ferals are! So I got two buff orpington chicks from the feed store today. Which means that in about two or three months it will be time to integrate the birds.
The problem is this--the coop I have is pretty small, just big enough for four birds, which is why I only got two new chicks. With my ferals, I locked them in the coop/run for about three weeks so that they'd imprint on it as "home," and I would pick them up and lock them in the coop if they bedded down anywhere outside of it until they were reliably roosting in the coop. Only after about three weeks did I feel comfortable letting them out to free range. But how could I do the same thing with the orps when my ferals are still using the coop? I mean, I was planning on getting a wire dog cage to use as "chicken jail" or as a recovery room for any injured hens, so I could probably put my ferals in the run and my new birds in the wire cage for a week or so to get them used to seeing each other through the wire. But I'm just not sure how to both integrate my new birds and also teach them to sleep in the coop without causing too much trouble.
I guess I could let my ferals sleep in trees for the few weeks that my orps are locked in the coop, but if I did that I might not get them back! I guess I could also block off the nesting boxes with chicken wire and put the orps to sleep in there at first, then let the orps in the run in the morning when the ferals are free-ranging. Later on if the ferals are mean, I can put them in chicken jail while the orps free range and hopefully shake up the pecking order.
Does anybody have any better ideas?
Fwiw I think the orpingtons are going to end up being bigger than my ferals are in the long run. ALSO if this changes anything I live in Hawaii so the only predators we have to worry about here are cats and mongooses.
(there's also a feral hen that lives in my neighbor's tree that sometimes bullies my ferals away from their food--been thinking about putting her in chicken jail for a while to see if that fixes it, but for now I've just been feeding her in a separate area so she's too busy while my birds are eating. She doesn't belong to anyone btw. would this work? she seems to be on the bottom of the pecking order in the flock she came from, which is why she keeps coming into my yard for food probably.)
I currently have three feral rescue birds, two hens and a roo (who I will be getting rid of shortly--he's a pretty boy but I live in a suburban area). They're basically game birds--hate being handled, can fly very well, sometimes choose to roost in trees instead of the coop. In fact I've started feeding them in the run in the evenings and locking them in so that they have no choice but to sleep in there, otherwise one of them will inevitably be missing.
But I wanted to get some birds that I knew would reliably lay me eggs... and, ngl, I wanted some chickens that would be cuddlier than my ferals are! So I got two buff orpington chicks from the feed store today. Which means that in about two or three months it will be time to integrate the birds.
The problem is this--the coop I have is pretty small, just big enough for four birds, which is why I only got two new chicks. With my ferals, I locked them in the coop/run for about three weeks so that they'd imprint on it as "home," and I would pick them up and lock them in the coop if they bedded down anywhere outside of it until they were reliably roosting in the coop. Only after about three weeks did I feel comfortable letting them out to free range. But how could I do the same thing with the orps when my ferals are still using the coop? I mean, I was planning on getting a wire dog cage to use as "chicken jail" or as a recovery room for any injured hens, so I could probably put my ferals in the run and my new birds in the wire cage for a week or so to get them used to seeing each other through the wire. But I'm just not sure how to both integrate my new birds and also teach them to sleep in the coop without causing too much trouble.
I guess I could let my ferals sleep in trees for the few weeks that my orps are locked in the coop, but if I did that I might not get them back! I guess I could also block off the nesting boxes with chicken wire and put the orps to sleep in there at first, then let the orps in the run in the morning when the ferals are free-ranging. Later on if the ferals are mean, I can put them in chicken jail while the orps free range and hopefully shake up the pecking order.
Does anybody have any better ideas?
Fwiw I think the orpingtons are going to end up being bigger than my ferals are in the long run. ALSO if this changes anything I live in Hawaii so the only predators we have to worry about here are cats and mongooses.
(there's also a feral hen that lives in my neighbor's tree that sometimes bullies my ferals away from their food--been thinking about putting her in chicken jail for a while to see if that fixes it, but for now I've just been feeding her in a separate area so she's too busy while my birds are eating. She doesn't belong to anyone btw. would this work? she seems to be on the bottom of the pecking order in the flock she came from, which is why she keeps coming into my yard for food probably.)
