New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[Aunty e]

Poor you! They do come with some nasty habits, and the weather really hasn't helped. We have one particularly violent one (the scrawniest and baldest of course) who not only bullies all the other chickens but bit me the other day. Madam. I'm assured they settle down eventually...

[Shirl]

I bought some anti-peck spray so will spray everyone bar Elizabeth in it. Emily doesn't seem bothered by herself during the day. The old girls just leave the run during the day and they have a feeder etc outside the run. It is all a pain but Elizabeth seems happy enough outside and doesn't seem too cold which was a major concern. With the weather getting worse I'm keeping a close eye on her and she'll just have to come in again if she starts to suffer from the cold. She has quite a few feathers now though and is laying (in the run) so obviously the ex-batt feed has been doing her some good.

[sadietoo]

I've read this thread with interest. I really just wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of those of us who would like to step up to the mark but are currently prevented by outside forces (ie OH ) I would love to rescue some exbatts..but I still need to get my WIR, and talk my OH into it...unfortunately he knows i have "previous" (we had a baby hedgehog living in our family bathroom for five weeks last winter...it just wandered past our back door at the coldest time of the year. when it should have been hibernating.....so what else could I do? That was extremely smelly too..!) so I don't think I would get him to agree at this time of year.....but I will keep working on him. In the meantime, I'm delighted to hear that Emily and the Bonnies are doing so well.

,

[Mollie333]

Well done for taking in more!

[Aunty e]

We've had a bit of a setback - one of the bonnies has disappeared. We think that a fox must have taken her while they were free-ranging during the day, which has never happened to us before, so it's meant that we can't let them out as much. We're hoping that their feathers continue coming in as quickly, and we can let them join the big girls in the big run. I don't like keeping them in when they enjoy roaming as much as they do, but I can't watch them every second and I don't want to lose any more

[Shirl]

How awful that one should just disappear. I though it happened to me a couple of months ago but I found my girl in the leaves and she had passed away. I guess it's best not to take any chances though.