Hi everyone, in May of this year we bought 10 - one day old chicks from a local farm. They were "Olive eggers". I gave two to a friend a few weeks back because her hen had lost her buddy. Then 4 "chicks" turned out to be roosters, so we took them to the farm auction the other day and sold them to new homes - in total 6 because 2 more "hens" began to crow as we were packing up the roosters 
. But that left us with only two hens. My kids were sad. So I looked up on our local want ads and saw a farm selling 19 week old Lohmann Browns. I read up and saw that they make good pet chickens and are normally sociable etc. We drove to the farm and when we got there he brought us into a large production facility and said the hens are in a room - he opened the door to about 1000 hens sitting on concrete in the dark. I could only afford to buy 6 at his price.We brought them home and put them in the coop/run - as my other hens were out free ranging. They seem to be shell shocked, wont touch "treats" do not know what to do on grass or in the coop. I have left the door open today to see if they would wander out - but they wont. Is this normal, do you think its because they were raised in a room? Does anyone have experience with this? Any tips on socializong them would be greatly appreciated. Am I expecting too much too soon? Our other hens are totally socialized with us, company our cats etc. But they are scared to death of these chickens, I had to put them in their nest boxes last night after dark - they were perched on their coop fence.Thanks all!!
. But that left us with only two hens. My kids were sad. So I looked up on our local want ads and saw a farm selling 19 week old Lohmann Browns. I read up and saw that they make good pet chickens and are normally sociable etc. We drove to the farm and when we got there he brought us into a large production facility and said the hens are in a room - he opened the door to about 1000 hens sitting on concrete in the dark. I could only afford to buy 6 at his price.We brought them home and put them in the coop/run - as my other hens were out free ranging. They seem to be shell shocked, wont touch "treats" do not know what to do on grass or in the coop. I have left the door open today to see if they would wander out - but they wont. Is this normal, do you think its because they were raised in a room? Does anyone have experience with this? Any tips on socializong them would be greatly appreciated. Am I expecting too much too soon? Our other hens are totally socialized with us, company our cats etc. But they are scared to death of these chickens, I had to put them in their nest boxes last night after dark - they were perched on their coop fence.Thanks all!!
