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

[Chick-a-doodle-doo]

I am keeping my ex batts seperate, from my other girls so they don't have to go through any more stress. I will be getting their own ex battery food but wondered what else I might need to do for my new girls.

 

Any tips?

[Egluntyne]

Just give them time to recover. I keep them completely separate for about a month.

 

I always find that exbatts, although often feisty because they have had to fight for every mouthful of food, are physically very weak to start with. After a couple of days acclimatising in the cube and run, let them free range a bit, to build up muscle and strengthen their bones, before you introduce them to your other hens.

[Space Chick]

I'd get them some mealworms too to help with feathering.

[Lavenders_Blue]

From my own experience with my girls, you will probably need to go out for the first few evenings to put them to bed as they don't have a clue. Mine didn't even roost down anywhere at first they were just wandering about in the dark until I put them to bed!

 

Make sure you have plenty of food and water stations as they have been used to fighting for every mouthful of food and get very defensive of the feeders.

 

Look for eggs anywhere and everywhere as it takes them a while (if ever) to get the hang of going into the house/nestbox to lay. I have found eggs all over the place including on the patio which can't have been very comfortable!

 

If you want to feed them veggies or food s"Ooops, word censored!"s you might need to whizz them in a food processor as they don't seem to recognise anything as food that isn't in crumb form.

 

Hope this helps you. Don't worry too much, just enjoy your girls and you will soon work out their peculiar needs!!

[coco]

I've only hasd my ex batts two weeks but they have got the hang of things really quickly. They put themselves to bed the second night and now I leave them free ranging and they go in about half an hour after the other girls [5.15pm at mo]. One is happy to try new food but the other one just looks at it. I give them mealy worms and they had half a tin of tuna yesterday.

[sandyhas3chucks]

keep them dry and draft free in the run, they will have been used to a hot shed too.