Six days ago I purchased five Buckeye pullets and joined them with my one-year-old Barred Plymouth Rock. The BPR has been alone for two months since we had a racoon problem that killed her five sisters. We spent quite a bit of money fortifying the run to make it iron-clad, then brought these new Buckeye pullets in.
The problem is, the pullets are very fearful. They are afraid of me, and they are afraid of the BPR. She has not pecked at any of them, just chased them a bit and sqwuacked at them constantly the first day or two. The pullets will not go out into the run if she is there. They also are very afraid of me. They stay in the dark coop all day unless I force them out. Also, at night they will not sit on the roost when the BRP is sitting there. (They do hop up on the roost as soon as she leaves) They sleep on the floor and get pooped on.
For the past couple of days, I have removed BPR from the run, and taken table scraps out. I go into the run and place the scraps on the ramp and just outside the coop and talk sweetly to them, hoping they'll begin to associate me with treats. They will tentatively come out of the coop, pick at the food, then get right back into the coop after a few minutes.
Any advice? How can I make my new pullets less fearful of everything and willing to go into the run? Thanks for reading this long post!
The problem is, the pullets are very fearful. They are afraid of me, and they are afraid of the BPR. She has not pecked at any of them, just chased them a bit and sqwuacked at them constantly the first day or two. The pullets will not go out into the run if she is there. They also are very afraid of me. They stay in the dark coop all day unless I force them out. Also, at night they will not sit on the roost when the BRP is sitting there. (They do hop up on the roost as soon as she leaves) They sleep on the floor and get pooped on.
For the past couple of days, I have removed BPR from the run, and taken table scraps out. I go into the run and place the scraps on the ramp and just outside the coop and talk sweetly to them, hoping they'll begin to associate me with treats. They will tentatively come out of the coop, pick at the food, then get right back into the coop after a few minutes.
Any advice? How can I make my new pullets less fearful of everything and willing to go into the run? Thanks for reading this long post!