Single hen

[Electricbarbarella]

All seemed to be going so well that I went out for a couple of hours leaving all the girls in together, when i got back the ex batts were huddled together under the cube and margo was bleeding.

I feel awful, I watched them for hours to make sure there was no fighting, anyway I have moved the ex batts back to the eglu and am feeling so sad and guilty.

I think I will leave them on their own for a lotlonger and dh and I trying to workl out how and if we can buy them their own eglu.

they have been through enough with out getting duffed up by the pampered big girls.

Please tell me I am not a terrible chicken mummy for rushing them too much.

[Egluntyne]

What a shame.

 

You aren't a terrible chicken owner at all. These things happen. Just take it very slowly, and supervise the free ranging together for a while longer. Encourage them to share teats too.

 

I am not in any great hurry to have the pink Eglu back so don't feel under pressure to speed things along because of that.

[alih]

How awful for you EB but don't blame yourself - you did everything right and it seemed to be going well. Am sure it will all be ok next time. I am too wimpy to try yet but will be doing a lot of supervised ranging this weekend as am at home most of the weekend. When I did it with my others it took 3 weeks all in but am planning for up to 5 or 6 for this lot. I never thought it would happen before and got quite fed up, but it did so am being optimistic this time. My batties are so much stronger already it's astonishing!

 

I don;t know whether others keep their ex bats away from their others all their lives but I prefer the idea of one bigger flock so don't give up yet!

[Mollystar]

Dont feel bad, take it slow.

 

I gave up on the last introduction all together & bought an eglu for the younger girls, one of my problems or so the BF seemed to belive was over crowding.

 

My pampered bunch I call the hills have eyes bunch, I'm convinced they are evil or at least behaved that way with the new chooks.

[dancing cloud]

Thank you for your posts on this. It's something I'll have to try myself in a couple of weeks or so, so I'm learning from your experiences .

 

You really mustn't blame yourself if it all looked like it was going well and the cunning little monkeys just waited till your back was turned!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Poor you EB, and Margo too of course.

 

My lot are all free-ranging together happily in my big garden, Monday night I had a horrible scare though.

 

Two of the braver batties were in the big run when I had to put them all away whilst I went on the school run, one I managed to catch & carried her out without any problems, when I looked up to see where the second one was, she had "run the gauntlet" on her own. Unfortunately one of the splashes had penned her in the corner & the little darling had her head to just behind her eyes stuck in the weldmesh. The bully was pecking her back. She had her eyes screwed so tightly shut, I could have cryed for her, but bellowed at the Orpies instead, who sauntered off as though nothing had happened . Once she relaxed a bit the battie could pull her head out & I got her into the eglu run. I'm not sure which one she was, but none of them are showing any signs of bruising or stress, so I think all's well, thankfully. They will be staying in their own run for the foreseeable future when I'm not around, I just can't trust the others yet.

 

Sha x

[Barkisland]

Oh EB, so sorry to hear this, after it all seemed to be going so well. Poor Margo. It's awful when you see or hear one of your girls being hurt You are definitely not a bad chicken momma, you have just been unlucky.

I netted off half my run for the ex batts, but they somehow managed to get in with the big girls once, and one or two of the big girls got in with them on occasion. I ended up buying a bigger, more robust net to keep them apart (more expense ) Ada, my cream legbar, who was bottom of the heap in the big girls side, has moved in with Gerty & Flo full time now. She 'broke in' so many times, I decided to let her stay, as long as she behaved herself! She has established herself as top chook in this half of the run. Since moving in with them, she has started laying - don't know if that's just a coincidence. I think she is enjoying throwing her weight about, but will come unstuck eventually when we do get around to merging the two sides again. I am waiting though, until the ex batts have got some feathers and some self confidence. Lucky for me, I have the room to keep them separate so I don't have to rush it. Gerty is feathering up very nicely, I notice, and Flo was not in too bad a condition to start with, so when I have got some more netting I will clip a wing each and try free ranging them together to see how it goes.

[Electricbarbarella]

I am not sure I would bother clipping their wings to be honest, mind you mine have no wing feathers so they dont have much chance of take off. they have all been seperate today and the batties have been inside the eglu a lot of the time, I hope I havent set them back, just gave them a big bowl of porridge and they all come out for a bit.

No freeranging for anyone today as the weather is vile and I cant cope with any more injuries. They have been sleeping in the cube and I still put them in there last night, when dh got in he decided that they should sleep in the eglu for a while longer so they are not too stressed (he is softer than me)

[Barkisland]

I was thinking of my four big girls really, when I mentioned the wing clipping. I know for definite that at least two of them can fly. We have a pretty big garden, I would hate to be running around it trying to catch my naughty chickens at bedtime! If they weren't coming out of the run I wouldn't bother, but I would like to be able to let them out eventually.