Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[Eggasperated]

Having read all the introduction info and decided to take things really slowly I'm still a bit concerned about this weeks hen activities. I have had the new girls in an eglu with a separate free range area next to the older ones for four weeks. On Saturday I took the dividing fence down and have been allowing them a few hours of free range time together every day, but rather than things getting better each day seems to be worse. Despite having four food stations Alice, top hen, has taken to chasing the new girls into the back of the eglu and eating from the feeder in their run. Today she is barely letting them out at all, and although Edith does get past her she is quickly put in her place with much wing flapping, pecks on her back and loud squawking. Poor Fearne, the youngest, is quite scared and hardly knows where to put herself.

There has been no blood drawn and the new girls get plenty to eat when they are shut back in their run at about six, I am reluctant to interfere as I know they need to sort out the pecking order but am I letting Alice get away with too much? Is it normal for things to get worse before they get better? At first they just ignored them - perhaps they were hoping they would just go away

[migsy]

I'm trying to integrate some at the moment but the new ones are still a bit small to stand up for themselves. Are your newbies much smaller than the others. How old are they

[coco]

i've had my new girls for eight weeks now and they are scared stiff of my old girls and just run into thier house and hide. We are still having seperate FR although OH says when he builds my WIR [if it ever happens ] they will all have to live together.

[Roobaloo]

Have you tried either isolating the top hen and letting the rest free range together....or free ranging the top hen (by herself) with all the new girls so she doesn't have the security of "back-up"?

 

Might be worth a go.

[Eggasperated]

Age wise the newbies are around 22 weeks - so about a year younger than the original girls, but in maturity Edith, the bluebell, is already crouching, Jo has a partial comb and Fearne, an amber star, looks very immature. Edith also seems to be particularly inquisitive into the original girls house and shelter which I think Alice finds annoying.

I have noticed that when Alice is in the nest box things are quieter and Carol is more accepting of them but I thought it might be a bit early to go down the separation route, although that's certainly worth thinking about.

[Guest]

I'm trying to intergrate at the moment as well. I have an aruacana and appenzeller and a pekin keeps attacking them. Just gotta keep perservering.

[chicken bark]

I think try to provide them with as much space as possible when integrating. If there is no blood I'd hold fire for a bit.

 

The other thing I have read recently is that when hens stop laying (most pure breeds stop laying over the winter) they are less territorial and so are more amenable to new arrivals. Maybe hybrids chill out a bit over the winter too.

[Guest]

I will say i found it best when I got my pekin's was to shut away the middle hens and keep out the top 2 hens because if their accepted by them then they can be introduced to the other girls

[Eggasperated]

I've got the two houses in a 50m electric fence enclosure with apple trees and also a hedge for them to scratch around under (although the older girls aren't allowing the new girls under the hedge - prime scratching territory I guess). I expect that's also why Carol is more accepting as it's around 10 weeks since she bothered to lay a full size egg - just lots of wind eggs for some strange reason.

[docsquid]

At the moment, the trouble is between the middle hen of my original 3 and the bantams. The top hen, Blodwyn, is still top hen and doesn't have to do anything other than look at the newbies, and Gwennie is content to be bottom hen of all six. But Megan is chasing the littleuns quite a lot - no blood, but she does chase them and peck at them a bit if they are trying to get food. They do FR together, but the littleuns seem to prefer it in the WIR and don't go very far. I think Megan is worried she will lose number 2 spot to Dilys, the Lavender Pekin, who is top chook of the newbies.

 

All very complicated, and it looks now like they won't be integrated before our holiday, so we'll have to keep them separate while away (the banties are in a separate pen in the WIR and all have plenty of space), and try again when we are back. If things don't settle down, I might try isolating Megan and let the others shake down together, but that will be noisy, as she complains a lot about everything. In our case it isn't the top chook causing the problems, it is the middle one.

[Eggasperated]

Things seem a bit quieter today, although Alice is currently doing her normal two hour marathon in the nest box. Also they are worse when I first let them out and (as my OH pointed out) when they see me as I suppose they associate me with food and treats.