Storms and chickens

[AliA]

Please can I ask for your advice. My eglu cube (with 2 extensions) is being delivered tomorrow morning. I will be having four 'girls' from 2 different breeders which will arrive on saturday. How do I integrate them all?. Do I put them in their new home together and let them sort out their pecking order?. I could not bear to have blood, fur and feather flying around.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks so much

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum AliA . Lucky you, getting a cube, a huge run and loads of chickens . Bet you don't sleep at all tonight .

 

Don't have any experience of this I'm afraid, but from what I've gathered you may be alright as you have equal numbers on each "side". I think it's usually a lone hen that gets picked on.

 

One suggestion I think I've read is to spray them all with a very weak solution of tea tree oil (or other essence) so they all smell the same?

 

Hope you're going to let us see pictures when they all arrive .

[Ms Tilytinkle]

Hello AliA

We bought a cube & 2 lots of chooks from 2 different breeders. What we did was keep all the chooks in their carry boxes until cube was built ( 3 in each box). Then we closed the cube door & put the chickens straight into the roosting bit from the roof.

we closed the roof & let them 'home' for about 30 minutes or was it an hour, sorry cant remember exactly . .but long enough for us to have cuppa coffee, a chat & get warm ( it was very cold the day they arrived). Then i slowly opened the door & left them to it, after a few minutes they emerged one by one & all met each other in their run neither knowing who'd arrived first or who's run it was.

We then kept them in their run for a week before allowing them to free range.

 

Hope this may help give some ideas to ease the intro's dilemma, our chickens were absolutely fine with each other...4 weeks on they still go everywhere together & all get along very well together. Think its down to luck of the draw!

 

Ms Tillycleaneduppoohwithoutwretchingtoday

Edited April 3, 2008 by Guest

[TAJ]

I would keep in carry boxes and let them all into the cube at the same time. Whilst mine came from the same breeder they were different breeds, so had not been housed together they came home two in one carrier (their first time of meeting) and one in a second.

 

They were very calm on the journey and were all in the same boat when they entered the Eglu. A little bit of squaring up between a couple of them for 2-3 days, but no real pecking and totally peacful.

 

Good luck and remember to show us the photos!

 

Tracy