Integrating a cockerel into a flock of mature hens

[aart]

Whew! Glad you got her back!

 

[Leahs Mom]

 

[Sylvester017]

There's one that's a little more curious than the rest and dares to get somewhat close to me. She's the first to explore their new accommodations - I think she needs to lay an egg and is checking around for the best spot and there looks to be one whose comb and wattles aren't quite fully developed yet so she likely hasn't begun.

I'm now seeing a little scabbing on the tops of their legs, just like what's on their combs. I'm assuming that's also a result of pecking from not having adequate space at their previous home and hoping it's not something more severe. Time in quarantine should give me a better idea.



Ichabod is surprisingly quiet this morning considering the new arrivals. He is able to see them from the big run but isn't paying them any attention.

Your life certainly has been an adventure! Glad you found the MIA girl! Until you know why they have crusty legs, use vitamin E oil massaged into their legs, toes, nails to make sure the oil gets up between the scales on the legs. Wipe off excess. It will soften the crusty feel. And if they have scaly leg mites it will suffocate the mites. If its mites then 2 or 3 days of vitamin oil application will make sure to kill them. My vet recommended vitamin E oil or vitamin A oil for skin health on my Silkies -- he said to use it on their face skin, beak, eyelids, comb, wattles, legs, toes, and nails and down to the base of any feathers on the legs or around the comb. It is a nutritious treatment for the skin plus the oil kills scaly mites or at the very least will soften the crusty leg/toe scales. I do the treatment at night after roost when the hens are more lethargic and easy to handle. On a horrible recommendation someone suggested vaseline to me and all that did was grease up the feathers and make dust-bath dirt stick to the feathers and stain them. My vet said the vitamin E or A oils were much much better and skin nourishing -- by morning most of the vit oil absorbs into the skin/feathers without the greasy residue that vaseline leaves behind for days and days!

 

[islandgirl82]

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Oh thank you for the tips! I use hemp seed oil here which contains vitamin E and Omegas 3, 6 and 9. It's great for skin conditions. I give it to Willie in his food as he's allergic to everything you could imagine and breaks out in hives and hot spots all the time. The oil has been a tremendous help to him. I also use it on my skin sometimes in addition to cooking with it. It should work well for the pullets too.

Having the new girl home was a huge relief and when my daughter saw her, she so happy she cried.

Their tails are pretty sad but not as sad as some were. There are two that have more prominent leaders; the one in the forefront and the one in the back with her head down), one who has it but it's not as noticeable from further away (the girl in the first of the three photos and on the right in the photo above) and then the one who went missing (on the left, facing left in the photo above) who I believe hasn't started laying yet due to the underdeveloped comb and wattles and it's difficult to say how hers will turn out.

 

[islandgirl82]

Someone is feeling a little more confident. He's working hard to impress the new girls and has a bit more strut in his step today.



Still waiting for his tail to fill in but I'm very happy with the way he's turning out.

The pullets are much calmer today. They fussed a little when they saw the pup and rushed towards me but relaxed when her attention diverted from them to some fluttering leaves and they even dared to walk by her when she was laying beside their run.

 

[Sylvester017]

Talked with Dare2Dream in Lompoc, Calif and they might be able to help me get just one Dom pullet next Spring. They have a delivery schedule that covers up to 5 counties bordering them so the bird would be delivered to me providing they have Doms available next Spring. They hatch and raise birds from NPIP hatcheries that vaccinate for Marek's so I may not have to order City/Town Special chicks from Cackle after all. I really don't like raising chicks but a juvenile is much more fun to have in-house for socializing. We'll see.

We're having so much fun with the Cuckoo Breda juvenile in-house. Bredas are curious and seem to love posing for pics and not bothered by the camera flash at all.

 

[islandgirl82]

She's a cutie.

 

[islandgirl82]

I've never experienced the joys/terror of a broody hen before and I'm not sure what the early indications are of such a hen but the girls who had been sleeping in the boxes moved back to the roosts after the one passed. However, the last two nights one of the Dominique hens who came here earlier this year has slept in the box for the last two nights, softly purring as I pet everyone goodnight. I'm not/wasn't overly thrilled about it, mainly because I know the mess that will end up in the box if this continues but there have been NO droppings in the box. In the mornings and all day she's up and about, eating, drinking, gossiping and socializing with the rest of the flock but is this recent interest in the box the beginning of broody behavior?

If so, do I let her go [broody that is]? The eggs from the new pullets are all fertile from any of the numerous (and gorgeous) cockerels that they'd been kept with and hatching them could give me more unrelated-to-Ichabod females and a greater selection to choose from. With the coming winter, I'd say it's unwise to let a broody hatch them but on the other hand, nature would be taking it's course. Thoughts on this?

 

[aart]

IMO bird must sit on nest all day and night for 3 days to be deemed truly broody......
......coupled with any or all of the following...growling biting screaming fluffing feathers up and out flattening her body over the nest etc.

But the no pooping.....hmmmmm.

Maybe she's just thinking about it.

 

[islandgirl82]

I know one of these Doms went broody before she came here and hatched out a clutch and she wasn't a vicious broody like some of the hand-eating horrors I've read about but was instead a very docile mum.

I didn't think much of it yesterday and figured she'd moved to the roost sometime in the night but after the second night of sleeping in the box and it still being clean this morning definitely has me wondering whether she's considering it. Either way, I'll be keeping my eye on her.