I had a similar ‘problem’ with all my youngsters in the passed years.
A few hens don’t tolerate juveniles to roost with them in the extension where all my chickens used to sleep.
My run is not very safe and open (netting on top).
I added an extra coop last year hoping to solve the roost...
We have several of these eco-ducts in the Netherlands. Most of them are a bit smaller. 74 in total : https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_ecoducten_in_Nederland
They were build to make it possible for wildlife to travel from one small area to another small area. The Netherlands is so...
Mine eat more feed in winter too. Our soil isn’t frozen most of the time but nature comes a bit to a halt too. And it seems that cold makes it necessary to eat more to keep warm.
Maybe they are historically. There are 3 different stories.
1 🇪🇸 invented by Santa Teresa de Jesús, Salamanca
2 🇫🇷 patates frites / friture, on the Pont Neuf
3 🇧🇪 unlikely and strange story about replacing fish with potatoes
Such a ‘Dutch treat’ is something very unusual in the Netherlands...
Thanks for explaining. I am very well aware of the risk of buying pullets and I keep a sort of closed flock myself since my first chicken-year. Without a rooster. Unfortunately I cant keep a crowing cockerel when days are lengthening. Only twice I could keep a cockerel long enough for offspring...
So weird people all over the world seem to use the word Dutch for all kind of things that aren’t Dutch at all.
Tax, a neighbours bantam Sussex with the chicks she hatched from bought eggs.
I hope you and your hens get over loosing Leonard soon. :hugs
I thought that if a hen lays eggs, she is fertile. If none of the eggs develop with a committed broody or a good incubator it’s the roosters ‘incapability’ when the eggs wont start to develop. Maybe you are right and there is more...
@EmmaDonovan
Please tell us what breeds you have. What are the sizes of the coops and runs?
If you can give more information and post some photos , you might get real good tips to take the right action and solve your problem.
If you need more space, you better start building an extension to the current coop or connect the meat bird house to the coop or run within a few weeks after the hatch.
If the meat bird house is a good accommodation for the chicken family. You can move mother and chicks (and the eggs that...
Sorry to hear you gave up.
You make me wonder if and what changes you made that didn’t work out for the better.
Did you try everything I suggested?
Sure there must be something that helps. If not J suppose you have some serious traumatised chickens. :hugs
The hens are fine without a rooster for a while. I would wait for a better opportunity.
Second possibility id to hatch some of the girls eggs. The ones you have /get are fertilised by Leonard. The eggs are fertile up to 3 weeks after Leonard stopped mating. : Try to encourage broodiness or...
I cant take the treats away bc i scatter the treats in the run where they get locked in later.
If a few hens are inside for the goodies, I lock the door in the front and stand on guard near the back door to see if the others are coming.
The chickens don’t come out as long as they eat the mixed...