Eglu Cube, auto door, walk in run for sale South West London

[Stedic]

Hi all,

 

My three ex-batts have finally settled down, thanks mostly to cabbages and two free logs to hide behind.

 

I've been letting them FR on their own and with my two posh girls for the week. At the moment there is still a good deal of chasing and some nasty fights, but the ex-batts seem to be the bottom three in the pecking order. Problem at the moment is that two of the ex-batts don't really leave the run, I suppose they don't know why they should!

 

Anyway - I'm wondering what to do next. I'm going to give them a few more days FRing (or not) together but then need to move things on. How do you get both groups in the WIR? Is it best to put the Eglu (w/out run) into the WIR and just let them get on with it for a few days? I'll move all the feeders, drinkers etc and the logs across so there are plenty of hiding spaces.

 

Or, do you just chuck them all into the WIR with the cube and hope everyone settles down together?

[Mercedes55]

I wish I knew the answer to that one, hope someone has some ideas for you as we have the same problem in being unsure about the next step with our girls too.

 

For us it's the ex batts who are the dominant ones over our new pure breeds and they have now been in the same WIR with a divider in the middle for over 2wks, so that they can see each other but can't get to each other. We do put treats down close to the division so that they can eat close to each other, but not really sure what to do next.

 

On Sunday my OH was gardening and he let the ex batts onto the lawn. I decided to let the new girls out to see if they would FR together. They were okay for about a minute until one of the ex batts lunged at one of the new girls and they all scurried back into the WIR. They are still only 16wks old so a bit young I guess, but we a bit lost as to what to do next.

[sjp]

I've took slowly with both my intros first time because they were only 10 weeks old the secound because I didn't feel the need to rush. both times after 2 weeks isolation I let them FR togeather untill I felt the time was right first lot was nearly 4 months the secound about 3 but my hand was forced that time as Faith went broody on me

this next one might happen quicker than I want the 2 13 week boy's want to go in with the big girls now

[Jules.]

I'm currently up to letting my new girls perch on branches in the WIR, & locking my old girls in the cube at night. This means that I don't have to worry about bulling in the WIR in the morning before I let them all out to FR, & also the new girls get to eat their breakfast in peace.

They will all eventually sleep in the cube together.

[Plum]

I would move eglu with run into WIR for a while to get used to seeing each other up close for a while.

[Mercedes55]

We let our new girls FR with just the head ex batt girl today as she is very tame and very attached to my OH and follows him everywhere, so we thought it might be easier having 1 with 4. It actually worked out okay, the only new girl who had a go at the ex batt was Flavia our Favorelle which surprised us both as out of all of the new girls she always seems to be the most placid. In no time at all Bella our ex batt had them all in their place and all seemed fine. We didn't leave them out for very long as we don't want to stress them out too much.

[the bradley bunch]

hi again!

i'd recommend you put their eglu into the wir (as a 'comforter' and an extra familiar place to hide), but at night when the posh girls are bedded down in the cube i would pick the ex-bats up and put them in the cube with them (make sure you lock the door to keep them safe & sound from any predators ). chooks are least aggressive at night time, so it's best to chuck them all in together when they're sleepy, and whilst they may shuffle around a bit finding their own place to settle down, and the posh girls may be a bit put out by their presence, there shouldn't be any violent behaviour.

i would do this for a couple of days - letting the ex-bats have access to the eglu in the wir during the daytime, then at bedtime once the posh girls are settled locking them all in the cube together - then after this take away the eglu completely, otherwise you run the risk of hindering a successful integration (if the new girls can just run & hide in it whenever there's any confrontation!).

you may even find that some or all of the new girls make their own way into the cube at bedtime after a couple of nights if you're very lucky!

good luck to you, your ex-bats, and the posh girls!