- May 6, 2011
- 3
- 0
- 7
Just got 4 new pullets to add to the 3 two year old hens we already have (they should start laying in the next few weeks, as they are almost as large as my established girls). They have been together for about 5 days-i have attempted to ease the new girls in by letting them all out to free-range, or letting only my established hens out, thus giving the newbies some "relaxation time" in the run to eat and drink w/o having to look over their wings every second. For the most part, things are going ok-the obvious squabbles as the pecking order is getting established, but nothing bloody or brutal-just some chasing around. The problem is that my coup is about 3' off the ground with a ramp through the floor of the coop to the ground. My new girls do not want to come out of there, and for the last 5 days i have had to get them out myself in the morning. Once out, they get water/food and scratch around, but after about 30 min they climb back up in the coup. After going in and being shoo'd out multiple times during the day, ive closed off the entrance so they cant get back up there until i uncover it in the pm. they have some places in the run to go if things start to get a bit too rough to get away and be safe. This morning i was able to coax all but one down with some scratch on the ramp (they act alot more relaxed when i'm in the run with them) but i'm done with vacation in a few days so i can't be constantly shoeing em down to make sure they get food and water. Soooo....do i just leave the newbies up there and hope that they will get hungry/thirst enough to come on down? I could also open up the large cleaning door as this would make it easier for them to get down, but i don't think ease of entry/exit is the problem-they just feel safer up there. So i was hoping that by closing off the entrance that it would force things to get established and back to normal. Any ideas would be much appreciated!!
jp
jp
