I need your advice, please!
We're going to be moving soon and I had to thin down my chicken population from two large flocks to one small flock. In doing so, I kept three chickens from one flock and the rest from another. There are now 9 chickens. The chickens free range during the day and are cooped together at night. While they were all getting used to the same coop, I had them locked in there, with the run for three days. By the end of the third day, my Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam was bald and mildly bloody on her comb, but not scalped. She was one of the three chickens from the opposing flock. She's smaller than the others, but never had a problem with her original large fowl friends and was raised from a chick with everyone from that group. Part of the problem is that her original group had a rooster and a bunch of other hens who are no longer here and it threw off the balance quite a bit.
So that's the first problem. She slept by herself last night so that she wasn't killed. I don't know what to do with her now. The farmer who sold them to us as chicks said that she'd be glad to take back the D'Uccle and that it's a good thing that I separated her because she'd likely be dead today. My boyfriend says that he wants her to heal up first before she's put into a new situation, but the longer I have her, the longer I'll have to keep her separated from other chickens. Do I bring her over to the farmer today (who has experience with this problem and who has more bantam size chickens than I do) or do I keep her until she's better? And then what? We toyed with the idea of her being a house chicken, but frankly - we don't want a chicken with a diaper living in the house and it's not fair to her to have to live that way. But can she be reintroduced with a new flock and not be killed there?
The second problem is deciding if I want to thin out the flock more. My favorite chicken (an old barred rock) is being picked on as well and I separated out the major offender today who is a silver laced wyandotte (also from the mille flock) and will bring her over to the farmer. As much as I like the SLW, my old barred rock is my major priority. If I have to go down to three chickens to prevent her from being picked on, I will.
Advice on the Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam please? Do we keep her until she heals up? Or just not delay what will likely happen anyway and give her to the farmer who has bantams?
Thanks peeps!
We're going to be moving soon and I had to thin down my chicken population from two large flocks to one small flock. In doing so, I kept three chickens from one flock and the rest from another. There are now 9 chickens. The chickens free range during the day and are cooped together at night. While they were all getting used to the same coop, I had them locked in there, with the run for three days. By the end of the third day, my Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam was bald and mildly bloody on her comb, but not scalped. She was one of the three chickens from the opposing flock. She's smaller than the others, but never had a problem with her original large fowl friends and was raised from a chick with everyone from that group. Part of the problem is that her original group had a rooster and a bunch of other hens who are no longer here and it threw off the balance quite a bit.
So that's the first problem. She slept by herself last night so that she wasn't killed. I don't know what to do with her now. The farmer who sold them to us as chicks said that she'd be glad to take back the D'Uccle and that it's a good thing that I separated her because she'd likely be dead today. My boyfriend says that he wants her to heal up first before she's put into a new situation, but the longer I have her, the longer I'll have to keep her separated from other chickens. Do I bring her over to the farmer today (who has experience with this problem and who has more bantam size chickens than I do) or do I keep her until she's better? And then what? We toyed with the idea of her being a house chicken, but frankly - we don't want a chicken with a diaper living in the house and it's not fair to her to have to live that way. But can she be reintroduced with a new flock and not be killed there?
The second problem is deciding if I want to thin out the flock more. My favorite chicken (an old barred rock) is being picked on as well and I separated out the major offender today who is a silver laced wyandotte (also from the mille flock) and will bring her over to the farmer. As much as I like the SLW, my old barred rock is my major priority. If I have to go down to three chickens to prevent her from being picked on, I will.
Advice on the Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam please? Do we keep her until she heals up? Or just not delay what will likely happen anyway and give her to the farmer who has bantams?
Thanks peeps!
