- May 8, 2014
- 7
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Hi, I'm new to the forum but have read many posts from time to time. Just joined this morning so I could ask for some advice. My family has been keeping hens for 3 years. Two years ago we moved and had to cut our flock down from 5 to 3 hens. This winter one of our girls died and a couple of weeks ago the remaining two got out of our run. We live on the outskirts of our city, where technically chickens are not allowed so we are not able to free range our girls. Needless to say the fact that they got out was very stressful. We were able to find one and have not seen any evidence of where the other went to (no feathers lost, blood, etc). As a result this left our remaining girl all alone. So, we decided to add a couple of hens to our flock.
Ok, not a bad idea, but now we have problems. First off, the new girls are young (14-15 weeks) and smaller than our original girl. We kept the new girls in a dog crate inside the run for a week so they could all get used to each other. Somehow that didn't seem to help as our older hen is making the new hens miserable. I fully expected her to pick on them but because our run is not large, she chases them around if they try to scratch or get to food and water. I have put out several places for food and water too. Not only that but I think the new hens are so stressed out when she's around that they just can't settle down. One girl has decided to stay in the coop to hide out, while the other is in the run but paces along the fence line.
I have tried all sorts of distractions: cabbage, cd's, putting up new roosts, providing a board for the girls to hide under. They all do sleep in the coop together, although there is some fighting that goes on when they first settle in. So far, no blood but I just feel bad for the new girls and it's causing me a great deal of stress to see that things are not settling in yet. Granted it's only been 4 full days that they've been together, I expected things to be a little better than this. Am I expecting too much too soon? My hubby seems to think that they will eventually work it out. My original girl is really a very docile bird and like a pet for us, but when it comes to defending her territory, she's quite the bully. What would you all suggest I do next? Oh, in the evenings, I have let our bully girl out to free range a bit (she's very good about staying close to the house), which allows the new birds some peace, but I can't do this all the time (our yard is not fenced) and I'm not sure how much good it's really doing. Should I pen the bully bird for a day or more, and if so, do I keep her within the confines of the run or remove her altogether? Thanks for any advice you can give.
Ok, not a bad idea, but now we have problems. First off, the new girls are young (14-15 weeks) and smaller than our original girl. We kept the new girls in a dog crate inside the run for a week so they could all get used to each other. Somehow that didn't seem to help as our older hen is making the new hens miserable. I fully expected her to pick on them but because our run is not large, she chases them around if they try to scratch or get to food and water. I have put out several places for food and water too. Not only that but I think the new hens are so stressed out when she's around that they just can't settle down. One girl has decided to stay in the coop to hide out, while the other is in the run but paces along the fence line.
I have tried all sorts of distractions: cabbage, cd's, putting up new roosts, providing a board for the girls to hide under. They all do sleep in the coop together, although there is some fighting that goes on when they first settle in. So far, no blood but I just feel bad for the new girls and it's causing me a great deal of stress to see that things are not settling in yet. Granted it's only been 4 full days that they've been together, I expected things to be a little better than this. Am I expecting too much too soon? My hubby seems to think that they will eventually work it out. My original girl is really a very docile bird and like a pet for us, but when it comes to defending her territory, she's quite the bully. What would you all suggest I do next? Oh, in the evenings, I have let our bully girl out to free range a bit (she's very good about staying close to the house), which allows the new birds some peace, but I can't do this all the time (our yard is not fenced) and I'm not sure how much good it's really doing. Should I pen the bully bird for a day or more, and if so, do I keep her within the confines of the run or remove her altogether? Thanks for any advice you can give.
