- May 5, 2013
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We are total newbies to chickens and are wondering if we might have made a poor choice to meet our needs. We have a large organic garden and mini orchard. Last year, our area experienced a severe drought and grasshoppers were driven out of the dry pastures into our lush green garden. We were very suddenly infested with grasshoppers and they wiped out everything! In comparing experiences with others in our area, those with chickens had zero damage from grasshoppers. So we set about researching what breed would best fit out needs. Bantams seemed perfect. Small, quiet and low maintenance. So we built a beautiful coop for them and bought 10 Bantams that were 8 week old. After several days in the coop, we opened the door for them to free range. They wouldn't budge. After a couple days of allowing them to make the decision to leave the coop, we finally caught them one by one and put them out. They stayed huddled together right against the coop. After several says of this, we tried herding them further out in to the garden. But they kept going back to the coop. So one by one we picked them up and carried them out into the yard. They immediately huddled together and hunkered down in tall grass. Since then, they have begun coming out on their own but still stay within a few feet of the coop. And now when carried to the yard, they move as a group to the woods and huddle in the shade where they stay until around dusk and head back to the coop. They seem to dislike the sun and hate being separated. Needless to say, this isn't going the way we had hoped. Our tick population is horrible this year and we'd love some chicken help in keeping them under control, but they just aren't as active as we'd hoped.
Are we doing something wrong? Did we make a poor choice in going with Bantams? Do we need some older hens to show the young one the ropes? Would a few guineas help?
Are we doing something wrong? Did we make a poor choice in going with Bantams? Do we need some older hens to show the young one the ropes? Would a few guineas help?