4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[jellied]

Flushed with success of having our first two hens less than two weeks and even though there's been no eggs we're thinking about getting another.

 

We should have done the maths as we need about a dozen eggs a week so three birds is about right.

 

Sounds like we'll need an extension bit for our Egglu but how do you add a new hen? If we wait much longer I get the feeling the new arrival needs to go into a separate place before being thrown in with the existing two.

 

Any thoughts?

[..lay a little egg for me]

We had to take one of our hens back to the farm as she was poorly and we were given a replacement. This was after we had had them for about 5 days. We did not need separate accommodation as they were still so new and had not finished sorting out the pecking order. Whether you would be so lucky at 2 weeks, I don't know.

[Egluntyne]

Some info **here** about managing intros.

 

TBH I'd add 2 hens. One may find it hard going even though the hens you have already got have only been together for a couple of weeks.

[jellied]

MMMM - it is very tempting to get another pair. But we;ll need to do some garden alteration what ever happens.

 

So I guess my real question is - can you add two hens in with two existing others and not get worried? Either with disease or simply fighting.

 

Four hens would be a handful but probably not twice as much work, but double the eggs.

[Egluntyne]

Best to do it slowly as outlined in the article. A period of quarantine is useful too, to make sure that you are not introducing anything nasty to the existing pair. If you can loan another Eglu for a short while, it will make things easy.

[jellied]

over 2 years later and it looks like one of our hens days are numbered.

anyway - think i can get hold of a coop whilst any new birds settle in; my question is, can a standard Eglu house 3 birds without the need for the extension?

[GeorgieB]

I would say that if you keep them confined to the run for more than 3 hours a day then I would definitely get an extension. The standard run is tiny for 3.