- Dec 12, 2013
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Hi,
I will try and keep it brief.
I started with a lovely varied flock of 6 approximately 15 months ago, over that time we sadly lost 3 so had a settled flock of 3 since about November.
On Saturday evening we suffered a fox attack and I found one dead (the family favourite, a big orpington) and the other two (little bantams) gone which was very sad. The next morning (Sunday) the smallest of the bantams (little jaffa cake) was waiting on the front doorstep!!
Of course we were very pleased to see her, and she was uninjured, this is where the stupid newbie mistake comes in.......
We worried about her being lonely, she seemed sad and calling for her friends, so made a snap decision to try and get her a/some companion/s. Living in the city it is not easy to find chickens at all so when we found a family that wanted to rehome their flock of 4 we jumped at the chance and set off on a 2 hour round trip to fetch them.
Now the problem is the new ladies are an already established foursome, and also triple the size of little jaffa cake (not sure of their breeds, some kind of hybrid) and of course now little jaffa is the outsider (hindsight is a wonderful thing). Generally they just stay away from each other (they free range) but I have witnessed some bullying when they go into the house at night.
Where do I go from here? should i just leave them to it and they will settle down and accept each other? would it help if i get another one or two bantams that are more similar in size to jaffa?
Poor jaffa cake, she has been through so much in the last few days and i feel i have made it worse by bringing a group of scary strangers into her home
Any advice greatly appreciated and sorry it still turned out as an essay!
I will try and keep it brief.
I started with a lovely varied flock of 6 approximately 15 months ago, over that time we sadly lost 3 so had a settled flock of 3 since about November.
On Saturday evening we suffered a fox attack and I found one dead (the family favourite, a big orpington) and the other two (little bantams) gone which was very sad. The next morning (Sunday) the smallest of the bantams (little jaffa cake) was waiting on the front doorstep!!
Of course we were very pleased to see her, and she was uninjured, this is where the stupid newbie mistake comes in.......
We worried about her being lonely, she seemed sad and calling for her friends, so made a snap decision to try and get her a/some companion/s. Living in the city it is not easy to find chickens at all so when we found a family that wanted to rehome their flock of 4 we jumped at the chance and set off on a 2 hour round trip to fetch them.
Now the problem is the new ladies are an already established foursome, and also triple the size of little jaffa cake (not sure of their breeds, some kind of hybrid) and of course now little jaffa is the outsider (hindsight is a wonderful thing). Generally they just stay away from each other (they free range) but I have witnessed some bullying when they go into the house at night.
Where do I go from here? should i just leave them to it and they will settle down and accept each other? would it help if i get another one or two bantams that are more similar in size to jaffa?
Poor jaffa cake, she has been through so much in the last few days and i feel i have made it worse by bringing a group of scary strangers into her home

Any advice greatly appreciated and sorry it still turned out as an essay!