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wenhen

How soon to get new chickens ...

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Hi

 

Very sadly we had to get one of our chickens put to sleep yesterday (she had sour crop, but had hidden being ill for at least a week and was so weak and thin she didn't make it through the Vet's treatment yesterday).

 

We have two hens, but there are not really "friends" for want of a better term and Fern was always the top hen. So I am worried that Poppy is going to get picked on quite a lot being the only other one there. I was thinking of getting at least 2 more, but hubbie this morning did mention how many we could get if we had a cube instead of an eglu!! :shock: Think that he must like this chicken keeping melarky really.

 

So I guess the question is how soon should I get new chickens and is 2 old and 2 new ones a good combination?

 

Many thanks

Becca

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Sorry to hear about your hen - unfortunately, they often hide symptoms until it's too late to do anything for them. :(

 

I don't see any reason for waiting, and I think 2 old/2 new is a good combination, better to introduce 2 than 1. The only query I have is the size of your run, you can easily sleep 4 hens in an Eglu, but they'll need a run extension or two if they're going to be in the run all day.

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Olly has offered excellent advice, I also see no reason to wait

 

Bear in mind too that new chooks will need to be kept separate for a week or so in case they have any diseases or bugs

 

Then they need to be in eyesight of the others but kept separately for a period of introduction which could take up to a month, you can use the Eglu run inside your WIR for this stage and a covered cage/large cat carrier will be ok as a house

 

Good luck!

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Oh - using the cat carrier is a good idea.

 

I was thinking of seeing if we could get a cheap-ish little house to use, as we can make a run with the left over wood and wire - but putting the eglu and run inside is a much better idea!

 

I've read quite a bit about getting them to sleep in the same house, but having them in seperate side by side places during the day.

 

Just need to decide on what breed to get and find somewhere local that has them. Cambridge Poultry doesn't have anything available at the moment.

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try Thornes in Letchworth its a bit of a drive but a lovely place for a visit, they usually have hybrids available and do a phased 'rollout' of pure breeds through the year (its probably too early now)

 

You can put them all in the same house to sleep but once the sunlight gets in they will start argy bargy and in a restricted space may harm each other, you'd need to put them in late and get up early to hook them out, personally I'd wouldnt do this at an early stage (not forgetting the quarantine period) but it could be a good idea once the introductions are well underway

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Hello wenhen

I've just got 3 hybrids from Thornes last week and they are beautiful :D . They had a good choice and I now have a Bovans nera, a Magpie and a lovely skyline. I can certainly recommend Thornes chickens and Frank who looks after them is very knowledgable and helpful. Good luck :D

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Most hybrids are lovely birds, and I must say our Gingernut Rangers and other hybrid brown hens are the friendliest, the Copper Maran is the most striking looking, the Amber Star is the cuddliest and the Bluebelle is gorgeous, although quite strong with her wings! I would recommend any hybrid but little brown hens do seem to be the easiest. :D

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I'd be interested to hear how you get on if you do decide to go for it.

 

I've recently lost 2 hens and now have just 2 original old ladies. I'm toying with getting 2 more but am slightly wary as introducing 1 (only 4 weeks after the originals arrived) was a nightmare. And I know that intro of 1 is worse than 2, but I am a bit nervous.

 

Anyone out there have sucess stories of into 2 new to to old?????

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Of course I will keep you all posted.

 

I'm sorry that you have lost your hens recently too and had bad experiences in introducing previously - everything I have seen does say that introducing 1 hen is really hard. I guess that 2 new ones have each other for company and can share the "attention" of the old hens.

 

At the moment we have been toying with the idea of upgrading to a cube and using the eglu and run for the introductions and possibly getting 3-4 new hens - as we have the space in the run. Inbetween explaining to rather inconsiderate people at work why I would not be eating Willow!! :evil:

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