Hello all,
A friend of mine gave me what I believe is a Bantam Cochin hen, approx. a year old. She and her husband are moving away and have been trying to find home for her hens. I guess I have 2 questions:
Firstly, I have 4 standard size hens already and 2 Runner Ducks...will the newbie be okay with the bigger girls? She seems spunky, I have her in her own separate pen for now where the big girls can see her and she can see them. I have introduced lone chickens into my flock several times now with minimal fighting or problems. My girls aren't super aggressive, but I know it depends a lot on the new chicken too. I plan to let them out together in the yard tomorrow to see how things go.
Secondly, I have her in her own pen overnight tonight, and she is coming from a home where her coop had a red heat lamp in it. My friend says she never hung out around the lamp a whole lot...but...I have never lighted or heated my coop and she is now in the adjacent pen without light or heat...or real walls for that matter,lol. I have covered it with a sheet and a tarp over that, but I am still afraid she may get chilly. It is supposed to drop to 30F tonight, which is nothing to the rest of my girls, but I have never taken a hen during the winter like this especially coming from a heated coop. I am considering putting her in the nest box of my coop with the girls if she appears cold when I go out to check on her before going to bed....any other suggestions? This is the only pic I have of her right now, she's a cutie! You can sort of see the pen...
A friend of mine gave me what I believe is a Bantam Cochin hen, approx. a year old. She and her husband are moving away and have been trying to find home for her hens. I guess I have 2 questions:
Firstly, I have 4 standard size hens already and 2 Runner Ducks...will the newbie be okay with the bigger girls? She seems spunky, I have her in her own separate pen for now where the big girls can see her and she can see them. I have introduced lone chickens into my flock several times now with minimal fighting or problems. My girls aren't super aggressive, but I know it depends a lot on the new chicken too. I plan to let them out together in the yard tomorrow to see how things go.
Secondly, I have her in her own pen overnight tonight, and she is coming from a home where her coop had a red heat lamp in it. My friend says she never hung out around the lamp a whole lot...but...I have never lighted or heated my coop and she is now in the adjacent pen without light or heat...or real walls for that matter,lol. I have covered it with a sheet and a tarp over that, but I am still afraid she may get chilly. It is supposed to drop to 30F tonight, which is nothing to the rest of my girls, but I have never taken a hen during the winter like this especially coming from a heated coop. I am considering putting her in the nest box of my coop with the girls if she appears cold when I go out to check on her before going to bed....any other suggestions? This is the only pic I have of her right now, she's a cutie! You can sort of see the pen...
