Andrls Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Hello All, i'm off to collect my new chickens today! After much advice from a previous post about leaving the eglu house door open at night (thank you!) we have fully fox proofed our run with lots of concrete slabs and have a clear tarpulin over the run making it (I hope) fox proof. I'm collecting 6 girls today, do I start as I mean to go on and keep the door open tonight, or is it better to close it at night for the first few days while the girls get to know one and other? Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sari Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 You could leave leave it closed at night for a while, to get them settled. When mine were in the Eglu run I did that for about 6 weeks, to make sure the fox wasn't coming up to the garden, and then I left it open, well, mostly closed, but on the latch so to speak...so they booted it open themselves in the morning. Now they are in a WIR, it;s open all the time, unless its spectacularly cold, like it was in the Winter!! How big is your run btw, as 6 girls seems a lot...unless its a Cube? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrls Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 It's a cube with 2 run extensions, so 4 meter run in total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sari Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Ok..cool. Sounded a bit cramped otherwise! I was happy leaving the door open after a while, but am awarethat others don't..and I'm fully prepared for fox attack, having lost one of kmy girls after she stayed out all night... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atsw Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I picked up a couple of new girls yesterday (see pictures here). They are living in an Eglu inside a WIR. I shall keep the door closed for a few nights, just so they understand where bed-time should be spent, but by next weekend I'll be leaving it open, as I do for the rest of the flock who live in another Eglu. Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrls Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks for your advice! We ended up collecting only 2 chickens on Sunday, both 20 week old skylines. We really fancied some blue egg layers and the farm where we bought them from recommended getting the skylines settled first as they can be quite nervous and then introducing the other girls later this week. He is getting in some younger chickens of different breeds this week and said they would settle better and would be less likely to bully the older, slightly more established skylines doing it that way. I hope it all works!! The 2 girls we did collect have been great! They seem very happy. I helped them into the house the first night and did decide to close the door. Tonight they took themselves to bed. I think I'll keep closing the door until all the chickens are settled. Any recommendations on what breeds to mix with Skylines? I'll have to put them all in together so hopefully there won't be too much pecking / bullying. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JillM Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Crested cream legbars lay blue eggs too, and my 2 (introduced a couple of weeks after I bought my 4 hybrids) are still a little subdued so I doubt they'd be the type to go in for bullying. Good luck with your choices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
