Our first six pullets!

[be1wpeace]

We brought home our first 6 pullets yesterday and they are 6 and 7 weeks old. I have a camera in the coop to watch vs poking my nose in there to disturb them while they aclimate. Read I should keep them in the coop for a week or more to get adjusted to their new home. They huddled together on the floor in the back corner of the coop all night. I'm using washed sand in the bottom of the coop...which was wet so I added Sweet PDZ to help dry it out. Poor girls didn't roost so were in the sand which is 90% dry - perhaps toss some shavings back there? I have plastic buckets upside down on the floor and droppings board to make it easier to jump up to the roosting bars - ramp better? Not sure how high and far they can jump at this point. How soon should I handle them to get them used to me? Any thoughts on all this is appreciated!

 

[rosemarythyme]

They're huddled up because they're somewhere new and it's disorienting. They're well old enough to roost but depending on what the set up was like at their previous home, they might never have been exposed to it or got to learn to roost from adults.

 

[be1wpeace]

Thank you for your reply! Tomorrow will be their third day in the coop and I’m considering allowing them into the run so I can fully clean the coop and perhaps add a ramp up to the roosting board and the first bar.

 

[rosemarythyme]

perhaps add a ramp up to the roosting board and the first bar.

You can try a ramp, but realistically you might not have room in there (hard to tell from angle of photo).

They can get onto the roosts, the height isn't an issue, but if they don't know to roost, they'll just sit on the ground until one of them figures it out and shows the others.