wrong 'item' sold to me????

[JaeG]

If she was in with other birds at her old home then she's probably calling, trying to work out where they are and find them. She's been isolated from her flock so she'll be confused and afraid.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

If she was in with other birds at her old home then she's probably calling, trying to work out where they are and find them. She's been isolated from her flock so she'll be confused and afraid.

Agreed, a little understanding and grace may go a long way....

 

[drumstick diva]

I am wondering why you took her . You went to get her and she displayed this behavior from the start. What breed, or mix, or whatever IS not really the question here. This caused you so much distress at first sight, you could have said you do not want her.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I came back to see what the poor scared thing looks like and no pic.

So a couple things...
She is alone.... One should never bring in just one bird. They need their siblings, flock mates, friends or they will react rather negatively.
If you do not like this bird and she is causing you distress perhaps the seller will accept her back.

I have kept Delawares and found them to be extremely docile and human friendly. But then mine were with their flocks. One was so human oriented she got named Miss Lillian Underfoot.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Light Sussex are white legged. Delaware are yellow legged, if they are young and freshly laying...their legs get lighter as the season goes on.

I have had some Delawares that were less friendly. I've heard some poorly bred Delaware lines are rather nasty.

So it could be a poor line.

However, proper handling and understanding of flock behavior also goes a long way.

I'm wondering if the animal was water stressed? Or overall stressed due to the trip. That could cause a lot of reaction on a bird that is less compliant in nature.

I agree with others. If you are not happy, take her back to the breeder/seller. Otherwise, pick a "sacrificial" bird from your flock...a calm but not bottom of pecking order...to put in with this bird to help settle her.

Remain calm around her and keep her coop quiet and darker. I'd give her electrolytes and vitamins in her water to help boost her nutrition level. I'd also check to see if there are any health issues which may be causing her discomfort.

Hopefully she'll settle with a friend and some TLC.

LofMc

 

[strangeanimal]

hi all ,

ty for the replies ,
well I have been " out " on BYC for a while due some issues here with a predatory creature wherefrom I hope it choked on one of my girls ...
It happened to be that this hen was indeed a delaware and we have kept her for atleast the entire time untill it happened with the predator ... so that should have been about a two weeks and no way this chicken would once shut up , this was excessive noise she made and everything had to go her way , she annoyed even one of the roosters and he MADE her stop , she was mean towards any bird , towards children and towards the hand that fed her , all chickens were here victim and I indeed remember one delaware and she was just like this one . yet we decided to give her a chance here but even so she was far from nice ... I happen to have no pics of the chickens because of the predatory issues we suffered ( we lost the entire old flock just because they were in confinement and had their wings clipped )
I do understand the ideas here on just giving her some time but I can tell you that there is a difference between a chicken that is just scared because it is in a new environment and that one , she was even screaming bloody murder when the lights turned on during the night and I do not even mean light in their coop no it was just our light in the backyard which doesn't shine in too much on the coop , every movement from a human was enough to start screaming and she pretended to be the rooster as in " I am the boss and I will get what I want while the rest of the flock can choke " this was her attitude and yet we kept her and even treated her as a member of the flock without seperation . honestly it is good to have it a bit more quite , however they way that was created was far from what we have wanted for any of the chickens ...
Ty all for the input . and sorry for busting in like this but no she was far from afraid !
So those who assume she was scared to death ? don't be fooled by a chicken , this one was not scared at all ... ( ate just out of the hand too but with pecking so I d drop the feed )

 

[strangeanimal]

Light Sussex are white legged. Delaware are yellow legged, if they are young and freshly laying...their legs get lighter as the season goes on.

I have had some Delawares that were less friendly. I've heard some poorly bred Delaware lines are rather nasty.

So it could be a poor line.

However, proper handling and understanding of flock behavior also goes a long way.

I'm wondering if the animal was water stressed? Or overall stressed due to the trip. That could cause a lot of reaction on a bird that is less compliant in nature.

I agree with others. If you are not happy, take her back to the breeder/seller. Otherwise, pick a "sacrificial" bird from your flock...a calm but not bottom of pecking order...to put in with this bird to help settle her.

Remain calm around her and keep her coop quiet and darker. I'd give her electrolytes and vitamins in her water to help boost her nutrition level. I'd also check to see if there are any health issues which may be causing her discomfort.

Hopefully she'll settle with a friend and some TLC.

LofMc

hi the seller did not want to take her back and searching online we found he had a sevearly bad reputation ...
we didnt know that , now I always send samples to my vet and this chicken was fine in health too but she was just violent and mean and far from scared too ... It was a delaware after all which i already suspected and this may sound awefull ? but I am glad that the predator got her first , that is what u get when u draw all attention to yourself I guess ? she was the second victim after a silkie ... I do not like the way the animal had to go ofcourse but I am happy she is no longer here ! I would have sold her again btw but then the predatory issues became a major problem ...

 

[JaeG]

I'm so sorry you lost so many of your birds. How awful for you! I wonder if that hen hadn't been socialised properly or if it was just down to bad breeding. I know temperament is genetic. You must be enjoying a bit of peace from all the noise!

 

[strangeanimal]

Nothing you have shared is sufficient to ID the breed unfortunately. Yes, a photo would be helpful. Behavior described could occur just as easily in either breed. Behavior is more linked to management than breed - a normally docile breed raised in a way that does not foster people friendly behavior will behave accordingly. What color are the legs of the bird in question?

yellow , quite light actually but I do find it strange that I read and even see , when I was searching online how nice these birds usually are ( if not bred in europe I guess !! ) , I have seen vids of many people owning the delaware and they were so nice and just an examplebird while the delawares I know are nothing but MEAN creatures and EXCESSIVELY noisy for NO good reason at all besides being selfish , yes SELFISH against other birds and never afraid to just peck you so you would drop the feed u got in your hand so she can attack the others while eating it all ! my rooster has even attacked her and she was not allowed to interact with other flockmembers , it was very clear that even the chickens did not like her , only when they were free ranging it seemed to b all fine and the one issue she had was that if one chicken would have found some worms ? she would just storm right to the spot where that chicken was eating and claim it all ... so one thing I did learn from her and the breed I owned ? never mess with the old english games miss delaware ! they can stand up for themself and act as one group while you have done the effords to be the rooster , the boss , you got kicked out by the roo after pecking at the closest girlfriend of the roo ( she was not really wounded but enough to see the pecking was ment to really harm her ) NONE of the old english games did let it happen that she became boss because when she started to chase everyone away to take all the food ? my English gamebirds would just go back to eat and then only attacked her while even being polite , they only gave her a pinch to let her know " no you are not the boss , you and I are equal ! so share or go away , the rest was eating and she attacked , one gamefowl pecked her without leaving any injuries , she kept going on and just did not wanna give it up and then my roo got sick of it and she was always alone in one side of the run , never even interested in real and normal interaction but trying to get near the rest which was occuring to the rooster no longer fine , she had food , i made sure of that but she was just really mean , nasty and far from a good bird too so no thanks , unless I can find one from another country like the US wherefrom I have seen videos on the youtube that they are just normal nice birds .

 

[strangeanimal]

I'm so sorry you lost so many of your birds. How awful for you! I wonder if that hen hadn't been socialised properly or if it was just down to bad breeding. I know temperament is genetic. You must be enjoying a bit of peace from all the noise!

I indeed do not really feel too good about my birds being lost but after all , they were with so many and not a 100% happy given the fact they have been freeraging like for ages and suddenly they were moved , a lot were given away and a few could stay there , but yeah it happened and still we havent caught the predator but we did make changes on and around the coop now , so it is for sure nothing can get in there besides what belongs in there . Now just some questions here : how can these genetics change ?? and I guess she is indeed the result of bad breeding given the fact we recently found out that the breeder had a VERY bad reputation , not ONE good review at all ! only complaining ! he sold sick hens , never vaccinated , and on the top he sold the wrong ones especially to people who just started and they were ofcourse clueless ! so what is it that causes the bad breed in fact ? I have seen nice delawares in other countries ? but that bird ? mistake of nature ?? I do not know much / enough about genetics but I should I know ...
Now I took in ex batts because I tought why not using the areau usefull ? for now no more heritagebreeds and once these girls are settled in nicely I can still get a mixed flock , but first things first ..