- Jul 17, 2012
- 6
- 0
- 7
Hi there, I have always wanted to have some hens, and at last after moving to a our new house my husband has made an amazing 40 x 20 foot run that is foxproof and we now have 6 girls.
We bought our first 4 about 6 weeks ago, 2 light sussex and 2 black rocks at 20 weeks old. They settled in very quickly and the 2 black rocks even started laying the very next day. They are very friendly to each other, but they were living in the same coop where we got them from so were used to each other already.
We then thought we would like to get another 2 girls about 10 days ago and bought 2 blue bells at again 20 weeks old. We seperated them for only one day as they were all sharing the hen house that first night, so thought we would see how they got on when leaving the house.
My first 4 girls did chase and peck abit, but not too bad. I also let them out into our large garden to free range twice a day when I'm outside to keep an eye on them.
The first 4 are still chasing the bluebells now and again away from food, dust bath etc, but yesterday when free ranging one of the light sussex actually jumped on one of the blue bells back and held her comb in her beak - does anyone know why? she then jumped off her and all was OK.
How long before they will accept the new girls? i am suprised they are behaving like this as they have loads of space and the hen house can house 12 hens!
Thanks for reading, look forward to your reply
We bought our first 4 about 6 weeks ago, 2 light sussex and 2 black rocks at 20 weeks old. They settled in very quickly and the 2 black rocks even started laying the very next day. They are very friendly to each other, but they were living in the same coop where we got them from so were used to each other already.
We then thought we would like to get another 2 girls about 10 days ago and bought 2 blue bells at again 20 weeks old. We seperated them for only one day as they were all sharing the hen house that first night, so thought we would see how they got on when leaving the house.
My first 4 girls did chase and peck abit, but not too bad. I also let them out into our large garden to free range twice a day when I'm outside to keep an eye on them.
The first 4 are still chasing the bluebells now and again away from food, dust bath etc, but yesterday when free ranging one of the light sussex actually jumped on one of the blue bells back and held her comb in her beak - does anyone know why? she then jumped off her and all was OK.
How long before they will accept the new girls? i am suprised they are behaving like this as they have loads of space and the hen house can house 12 hens!
Thanks for reading, look forward to your reply
