- Feb 5, 2015
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Hi all, long story short, I'm running out of ideas.
I have had 2 hens for just under 4 years, a Warren and a Black Rock, The Warren aged and went to sleep sunbathing 2 weeks ago (what a way to go.) the Black Rock is full fo life and has been crackers and great fun since day one. The Warren was boss hen and the Black Rock was the gentelist hen ever.
I got a six month old Black Rock two weeks ago and have kept her in the same run, but partitioned by wire with her own temporary house. They had about an hour a day in the garden, where the original hen (Winnie - it's goig to be easier if I use names) would spend 20 minutes wrecking the garden then do a couple of grunts and charge at Tilly (the new one). I kept them apart fairly easily for the first ten days and then let them get on with it whilst they were out, it was only a few seconds of bustle before Tilly got out of the way.
After a fortnight of keeping them apart I've removed the wire between them so they're in the same run. I've left the temporary house Tilly was sleeping in, in there.
Today the first time they weren't seperate in the run, we had three hours in the garden with no problems (apart from the garden obviously.) Once they were back in side the run there was about five minutes of fighting (no where near as bad as I expected) and they seemed to be ok, Tilly gets out of the way, Winnie calms down.
Later on Winnie forced Tilly into the main hen house (where Winnie lives) and wouldn't let her out, Tilly was in there most of the evening. Eventually she came out and spent the rest of the evening on the roof of her temporary house, then about 20 minutes after Winnie went to bed, Tilly came down, had a drink and went to bed herself in her temporary house.
After the long story short, which turned into a fairly long story... Question is do I leave the temporary house in there, or should I move Tilly into the main house whilst they're alseep. She has eaten this evening, I kicked Winnie out of the run for half an hour early evening and sat with Tilly whilst she had some pellets.
Sorry to start a new thread but the whole internet seems to have advice on adding new hens to an existing flock rather than adding one hen to an existing one hen!
I have had 2 hens for just under 4 years, a Warren and a Black Rock, The Warren aged and went to sleep sunbathing 2 weeks ago (what a way to go.) the Black Rock is full fo life and has been crackers and great fun since day one. The Warren was boss hen and the Black Rock was the gentelist hen ever.
I got a six month old Black Rock two weeks ago and have kept her in the same run, but partitioned by wire with her own temporary house. They had about an hour a day in the garden, where the original hen (Winnie - it's goig to be easier if I use names) would spend 20 minutes wrecking the garden then do a couple of grunts and charge at Tilly (the new one). I kept them apart fairly easily for the first ten days and then let them get on with it whilst they were out, it was only a few seconds of bustle before Tilly got out of the way.
After a fortnight of keeping them apart I've removed the wire between them so they're in the same run. I've left the temporary house Tilly was sleeping in, in there.
Today the first time they weren't seperate in the run, we had three hours in the garden with no problems (apart from the garden obviously.) Once they were back in side the run there was about five minutes of fighting (no where near as bad as I expected) and they seemed to be ok, Tilly gets out of the way, Winnie calms down.
Later on Winnie forced Tilly into the main hen house (where Winnie lives) and wouldn't let her out, Tilly was in there most of the evening. Eventually she came out and spent the rest of the evening on the roof of her temporary house, then about 20 minutes after Winnie went to bed, Tilly came down, had a drink and went to bed herself in her temporary house.
After the long story short, which turned into a fairly long story... Question is do I leave the temporary house in there, or should I move Tilly into the main house whilst they're alseep. She has eaten this evening, I kicked Winnie out of the run for half an hour early evening and sat with Tilly whilst she had some pellets.
Sorry to start a new thread but the whole internet seems to have advice on adding new hens to an existing flock rather than adding one hen to an existing one hen!