clingy chickens!

[spish]

i have a problem that i really dont know how to solve.

most chickens that come into the house for quarantine return back to their flocks with no problem....but i have two chickns that now seem to think they are part of our family and therefore should be inside with us.

chicken number one - a huge white cochin roo....10 months old, was inside for just 2 weeks after spending 3 frozen nights stuck in mud in the field (he was barely alive when i found him) i hand fed him for the first week..he gained energy and stregth really fast and we tried last week to intergrate back outside now the weather is nice and the mud is gone.......but........he wont stay. he finds ways to escape the field, he's even broke through the hedge....he scrambles up onto the windowsills to 'tap' on the windows..or sits the whole outside the front door waiting for one of us to open the door then he runs in.

chicken number 2 - bantam cochin pullet. around 5 months old.....was picked on from the first day we got her....the other bantams (bought at the same day) just would not stop attacking her. it got to the point where she spent the whole day hiding and wouldnt eat. so we brought her in to 'fatten her up' she was inside for 2 months in all until we tracked down some younger bantams for her to live with. but she wont except them..if she sees another chicken she pannics and flys up on my shoulder. she is petrified of all chickens, big or small...apart from the big white cochin mentioned above (they were housed together inside for a while but he's so big he nearly crushed she, she always wanted to hide under him)

i dont want a house chicken, and i dont want a lonely chicken...and the constant flipping the big roo out the house, and the other always wanting 'me' is driving me looney....


any idea how i can learn them that they are chickens not people????????

 

[honeydoll]

That is a cute and funny problem to have. At least to read about it. Dealing with it would be different. THis may be best placed in the Managing Your Flock section. Anyway, with the Bantam, is there anyway you caould keep her locked in the coop with the other new ones for about two weeks. I bet after that she would be more adjusted to them and realize they won't kill her, unless they do harrass her. Maybe her being so flighty is causing them to go after her, in chicken world, they may see her as weak. Other that actually keeping her locked in a coop and run for a couple weeks I am not sure what to do. Do they free range? If so, maybe you can go out with her with the others and feed treats, where that might encourage her to get down with the others and scratch and eat. After a week or two of that maybe she will just fit in with them and feel more secure around them. Or let her fly up on your shoulder like you said she does if she is frightened, but sit on the ground (if not too muddy/wet) so she is still at a closer level to them and may get down more. HTH and good luck!!

Carolyn

 

[teach1rusl]

I think honeydoll's avice would work. If you don't have a run to confine the pullet to with the younger bantams, then go out there and sit with her and the other smaller birds w/a bunch of treats. Change is hard for chickens, so it won't happen overnight. As for your big guy, I think I'd just put up with him trying to "break back into the house" for a while - ignore him- bet he'll give up on trying within a week. Your problem is certainy funny though - the bantam I could probably deal with (as a house chicken), but not the big guy...lol. Didn't he crow when he was staying with you guys???

 

[spish]

well i managed to get the cochin bantam living with some 5 week old poulle de bresse chicks (they are around the same size) and so far its going well. but the big cochin roo is back inside with us after taking a turn for the worse. i think he began pining for us and stopped eating/drink, lost so much weight, became wobbly on his feet...so he's back inside. i dont know what to do with him

((((( he's a big bugger and makes such a mess, i really dont want a house chicken! but if he's going to perish outside idont know what else to do ! he is meant to be part of my white cochin breeding trio for this spring, but if he cant go outside i cant use him

any ideas??

 

[ffablonde]

I also have a similar problem... I have three chickens one hen and two roosters who my husband and I hatched from eggs and they have grown up in the house. They are about 4 months old and we just recently put them outside with our other chickens ( our weather here has. Even very hectic and we waited until the weather got somewhat nice out so they wouldn't eat sick. Now they are pouting and won't eat or drink when they are outside they just stay either in the chicken coop or will sit in a corner of the pen but as soon as you put them in the house again they pep up and eat and drink again. Any ideas on how to bust them out of their shells and help them realize everything is okay? Our other chickens are nice to them and aren't pecking them or being mean in any way.