- Feb 4, 2010
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Hi,
I recently acquired a small flock of hens ( 8 ) and a rooster. They settled quickly and had no issues returning to their hen house each night a little before dark. Everything was going well, but then I added some more chickens to the flock as I have plenty of space. I introduced another 8 hens and a second rooster.
There were no difficulties with introducing the new hens to the existing ones as they are all young pullets, and of the same age. Apart from the odd squabble everything went surprisingly well.
The only problem I have is that my original hen house was only really suitable for up to ten hens. They only use it for roosting as during the daytime they are in a large penned enclosure, but because I didn't want to overpopulate the house, I added a second hen house within the enclosure to accommodate the newer birds.
Now, every night at roosting time there is utter confusion. The original birds dive immediately for the hen house which was always their own, but the newer birds insist on cramming themselves into the same house along with them. I did keep the newer chickens in the new house for a day or so when they first arrived, hoping that they would take to it easily.
There is pandamonium at roosting time with me trying to move nine hens out of the first house and into the second. As soon as my back is turned, they creep back to cram in with the others and it is exhausting me. I try to get nine birds into each house ( OCD I expect ) but whereas before I tried to get the newer ones to go into the new house, now I just try to ensure that they are evenly distributed between the two houses. This causes some annoyance to the original chickens who, if i put them into the wrong house, stand around sulking like youths refused entry to a nightclub, and make it very difficult for me.
My question is, should I really worry about it ?. Should I just let them sleep where they want to even it means overcrowding ?. Or is there a way to ensure that they will use both houses. What do you think ?
I recently acquired a small flock of hens ( 8 ) and a rooster. They settled quickly and had no issues returning to their hen house each night a little before dark. Everything was going well, but then I added some more chickens to the flock as I have plenty of space. I introduced another 8 hens and a second rooster.
There were no difficulties with introducing the new hens to the existing ones as they are all young pullets, and of the same age. Apart from the odd squabble everything went surprisingly well.
The only problem I have is that my original hen house was only really suitable for up to ten hens. They only use it for roosting as during the daytime they are in a large penned enclosure, but because I didn't want to overpopulate the house, I added a second hen house within the enclosure to accommodate the newer birds.
Now, every night at roosting time there is utter confusion. The original birds dive immediately for the hen house which was always their own, but the newer birds insist on cramming themselves into the same house along with them. I did keep the newer chickens in the new house for a day or so when they first arrived, hoping that they would take to it easily.
There is pandamonium at roosting time with me trying to move nine hens out of the first house and into the second. As soon as my back is turned, they creep back to cram in with the others and it is exhausting me. I try to get nine birds into each house ( OCD I expect ) but whereas before I tried to get the newer ones to go into the new house, now I just try to ensure that they are evenly distributed between the two houses. This causes some annoyance to the original chickens who, if i put them into the wrong house, stand around sulking like youths refused entry to a nightclub, and make it very difficult for me.
My question is, should I really worry about it ?. Should I just let them sleep where they want to even it means overcrowding ?. Or is there a way to ensure that they will use both houses. What do you think ?
