Having trouble with new hens.

[Johnn]

I got 2 hens off these people that were delling hens they are yound pullets although they have big combs that are red, any ways they are mental and i mean metal, today i went to feed them the other hens came running up them to ran away one went under the fence and the other flew over a 3 metre fence i was very shocked. I chased them into the pen were i feed them and they hardly new what food was, any advicee?

 

[fshinggrl]

It sounds as if they are terrified. How long have you had them?

 

[Johnn]

since saturday but i got 4 altogether and i giver her 2 and hers are just as bad it seems like they have never been handled or anything and my friends sleep in the woods and i think myne sleep in the trees to one is abit tamer then the other but still they are both really bad

 

[Ole rooster]

Get some meal worms. They get drugged on those things and you'll have um eating out of yous hand. I had my flighty pullet calmed down in 3 days feeding those little dried critters.

 

[Johnn]

live or dead ones?

 

[Runt Of The Litter]

can recommend the meal worms as well-the roasted non wriggly variety,though they do like live worms to.
they can be gotten cheaper online but we used to get a big pot of them from a local garden centre for our girls and and even when they werent free ranging they saw and heard the pot coming from a mile off.
unfortunately henny,penny and ethel were older girls from an ex battery backround and were very set in their ways of not trusting or getting close to humans,but with a less complicated chicken; roasted meal worms are a common snack of choice, it must be an OCD thing as they get obsessive with hoovering up all the worm crumbs.

some people breed their own meal worms for this purpose,personaly woudnt do it as it involves roasting them for god knows how long in the oven,but for those that have no issues,it is a cheaper source.

 

[secuono]

Just give them time, treats and an enclosed yard.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Some hens are flighty like that if they feel cornered. I had some like that before. But what the others said is very true. Treats will make them love you eventually. But they still might not like to be close to humans even then.

I had some hens that would come up and smile at me with their eyes, and love to be near me through the fence, but if I got near- about 4 feet away, they would fly away like ducks.

 

[thechickenwhisperer24]

we had an injured girl who was out of the flock for a couple weeks. the other girls chased poor Molly around and eventually things calmed down.