What to do with one pullet? 😟

[PREPPYGURL46]

We have 2 laying hens in an Omlet coop and run (designed for 3 large hens) and two 20 week old pullets hatched together who were about to be moved into an ajoining Omlet coop on their own.

One of the laying hens, Lilac, is large and in charge, has no problem pecking the pullets (she did damage to one when they were little). They walk around together during the day with little problems (only when snacks are involved) but have been kept separate at night. They have about a quarter of an acre to roam in (fenced) during the day and then their coop plus 8 foot run at night. In the winter I lock them in the coops but in the summer I keep the coop door open so they can go into the run while they wait for me to let them out.

Well, last night a fox dug under the pullets' temporary run, mangled it and ate Rose The carnage was awful and heartbreaking but now we have a problem.

I can't have the other pullet on her own. She is already walking around their fenced area calling for her sister. But I also don't trust Lilac with her in their coop.

And I also fear the fox will continue to come back now so I think I need to lock them in the Omlet coops and block access to the runs for now.

What should I do about the housing? The best thing would be for the pullet to move into the established coop but I won't know how Lilac reacts until it's possibly too late.

 

[Mrs. K]

This is tricky, because of the time factor and the fox. So what I would recommend is putting a largish piece of cardboard, and devide the roost in the coop that you want all three birds. You want it to be a mini wall that completely separate the roost into two parts. A good way is to put a hole in the bottom of the cardboard so that the roost fits through it. This will help support the cardboard, and a bit of gorilla tape at the top should work well.

Then I would wait for the little to go to roost in the old coop, get her, and put her to roost on the far side of the cardboard from the others. Then I would be down there early in the morning. Adding some clutter into the small run such as a saw horse, a pallet leaned against the wall, or up on blocks, a couple of feed bowls placed so that while eating at one, you can't see a bird eating at another. It will look more cluttered, but actually really helps.

I think I would also order pin less peepers for old Lilac. In small set ups, these can really help, but unless you can get them in a feed store, it might take a couple of days for you to get them, and you have that fox...he will be back.

Mrs K