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[cluckingmad]

Hi ladies and gentlemen

 

Picked up three lovely little ex-batts on sunday, all aof which were classed as 'poorlies' so were unable to be rehomed on the day of rescue - all quite limpy, one (Millie) very much so.

 

We had them out side today for 1.5hrs in an enclosed arewa of the garden where our 4 omlet girls could see, hear and smell thrm but no pecking could be done. It had to be said, went much better than expected - none of our existing ladies showed the slightest notice of the new comers, other than to have a little look initially. We'd like to integrate them as soon as is sensible but given that all are pretty threadbare, especially Millie (who looks as if shes been half-plucked ready for Sunday lunch ) and all have a slight degree of osteoporosis, am not sure how long I should leave it before they go to live in the cube with the others?

 

Currently they're living in a 3ft rabbit hutch, which is sheltered and warm to allow them to recover strength and feathers (hopefully), however they won't use the ramp to the lower tier of the hutch which really limits their space... any advice on how best t care for these special girls would be most appreciated

Edited November 3, 2008 by Guest

[Tweety]

I got my ex batts in July and have only just introduced them to my other girls. I felt that they needed some time on their own to build up the strength to cope with the introductions, although they weren't in particularly bad physical shape when I got them. The introductions have gone very well - I followed the advice in FAQ - and in fact it is the ex batts who now seem to be ruling the roost! I am almost sorry that I have upset the status quo by introducing the ex batts, as they are much more aggressive than the others and, although it is lovely to see them living a proper chicken life with my original hens, I sometimes wish that I had left things as they were.

I would take things very slowly and give them a chance to recover before doing anything more than you are doing now - and it sounds as if your ex batts will not be able to use the cube ladder for a while anyway. Good luck!

[cluckingmad]

Hi Tweety,

 

Thanks for the advice Funnily enough, I was concerned about knocking hte status quo too, but with any luck all my girls will be able to stand up for themselves eventually

 

Having said that, my four omlet ladies are already properly little characters, even responding to their names now (even the cats don't always do that!)

 

Think I'll get my lovely OH to weld together a run for the ex-batts, then at least they can have some extra space

[Egluntyne]

I gave mine about a month before integrating them fully, so that they could build up some muscle, and so that I could be sure that they wouldn't bring any disease to or catch anything from my other girls.

 

The merging went pretty uneventfully.

 

I did it the slow intro way, which I find works very well. **Here**

[Moonie]

I kept mine separate for 2 months, and really shouldn't have worried as one of my ex batts (Doris) is now Queen Bee! The ex batts are feisty little girls and usually hold their own!! Good luck.

[Lydia]

My last lot lived in the spare eglu for about 3 weeks before we divided up the big run and put them in their half. They freeranged with the older girls all that time though.

 

After about a week Shiraz started jumping over the divide and intermingling so I suppose she decided it was time