Unsecure chicken perches

[squiffs]

Hi again!

 

 

I'm having a bit of a nightmare with the new chickens - they're lovely and I love them but one of them is a mean bully - whilst the pecking isn't so bad or violent - she's greedy and nasty about food.

 

My Margot is still very skittish - won't let us pick her up - squawks if we do, and is very henpecked by our Babs. Margot isn't in lay yet so we're pretty much resigned to the fact we'll have to wait til she is to properly handle her without a massive drama.

 

However, this is causing problems because Babs will not let Margot eat anything, if we give them separate food sources, she guards both of them by eating and digging a hole under one, and then if she spots margot even looking at the other food she goes over and barges her out of the way and eats that one instead 'I want whatever SHE'S having, even if I've got my own!'

 

The same with treats - we were hand feeding them quartered grapes yesterday and it worked a treat with Babs, she now lets us pick her up with minimal fuss, and we can hold her for a while before she gets restless and we put her back down which is great.

 

However, we're not making this progress with margot, she's more nervous, we try giving her a grape after giving babs a large pile of them and as soon as babs sees even a single piece of grape in margot's beak she'll peck her and steal it away. it's getting ridiculous. we even split up into two 'feeders' at either end of the eglu, and Babs will just come over to wherever margot is and barge her out of the way to get her food. she's also got wise that whenever one of us walks to the opposite end of the run we're probably going to put food through the bars for margot so she pre-empts it and follows us. All this in a day!

 

I'm starting to think I need to lock babs in the eglu if I'm ever going to see margot eat her food in the quantities she needs to, and I don't want her health to suffer just because babs is a massive cow-bag suggestions for dealing with this kind of situation?

 

 

 

 

*EDIT* - we've also got a small water pistol - but this doesn't seem to work as Babs seems to treat it like an opportunity to bath and even pecks at the gun to get water to come out

[Egluntyne]

I would remove the bully for an hour or so. Put her in a ventilated box ...she will go into 'roost mode', to allow the other hen to eat her fill. If you can trick the bully into the Eglu instead, close the door behind her for a while, she'll come to no harm .... so long as you remember to open it again.

[squiffs]

I would remove the bully for an hour or so. Put her in a ventilated box ...she will go into 'roost mode', to allow the other hen to eat her fill. If you can trick the bully into the Eglu instead, close the door behind her for a while, she'll come to no harm .... so long as you remember to open it again.

Thanks - she laid an egg around 10am yesterday - so I'm thinking maybe when she goes in the nest box again to shut the door behind her? Or maybe I won't need to if I can coax margot over to the feeder for a while whilst Babs is laying - but then this could be too short a time for Margot to eat her fill. She seems nervous to go near any food source since Babs has been shooing her away every time she goes near I will try both, she has no problem taking it from my hand either so perhaps I'll put some pellets in my hand, I'll let you know how it goes

[Redwing]

You havent had them long, it will sort itself out

 

Do remove all treats until they are sorted with the two feeders, it's hard to watch I know but let them sort that out first ad treats only provide another opportunity for competition

 

In the meantime removing the bully may help as already pointed out

 

Handle the chooks at night after they have been roosting for a while, they will soon get used to it

[squiffs]

You havent had them long, it will sort itself out

 

Do remove all treats until they are sorted with the two feeders, it's hard to watch I know but let them sort that out first ad treats only provide another opportunity for competition

 

In the meantime removing the bully may help as already pointed out

 

Handle the chooks at night after they have been roosting for a while, they will soon get used to it

 

 

We have been trying the pophole at night method, but they either weren't asleep at all or are very light sleepers because they flap and bang about as soon as a hand touches them

 

Babs I think won't do this anymore but Margot absolutely does not like it and will throw herself about like a maniac in the coop - which makes me worry that she'll hurt herself so it's made me nervous to do it again really.

[Redwing]

It's tricky this time if year as it's light so late. Do try when its dark and don't have outside lights on etc.. Just stroke them at first

 

Also do learn how to hold a chook - even the most flighty will calm down when held properly, I have some pics I will dig them out but I think Claret posted some quite recently

[squiffs]

The only pictures I've been able to find so far are the ones on the omlet guide - which suggest snatching legs out from under the chicken! - ours would definitely not allow us to do that and I wouldn't feel confident doing it as the delivery driver told us to pick them up like a rugby ball and then secure the feet once we'd brought them up to our torso height I've been picking them up in this way (hands cupped around the top and side so the wings don't flap, then sliding my fingers underneath their chest and around their legs to keep them from struggling and scratching). Babs will let me pick her up and is completely silent and doesn't flutter when I grab her, she'll then sit in my arms and be stroked and take a grape or two, but then when I feel her getting restless I let her go - I don't want to hold them for any longer than they want to be held!

[Plum]

That's how I lift them as well. Margo will get more confident in time and as she comes into lay will be more assertive.

 

At the moment I would do as Egluntyne says but also put some objects in the run, preferably between the feeds to make an obstacle so Babs has to go round something to get to Margo eating. I've found that once they've hit an obstacle they forget where they were going. What about a row of upturned flowerpots

[squiffs]

That's how I lift them as well. Margo will get more confident in time and as she comes into lay will be more assertive.

 

At the moment I would do as Egluntyne says but also put some objects in the run, preferably between the feeds to make an obstacle so Babs has to go round something to get to Margo eating. I've found that once they've hit an obstacle they forget where they were going. What about a row of upturned flowerpots

That's a good idea!

 

I shut Babs in the eglu this morning when she went and sat in the nestbox and let margot eat whatever she felt like - when I let the devil-chicken back out she started pecking Margot again but had laid an egg whilst she was in solitary confinement and had been completely silent about it too!

 

Margot did start snatching cheeky bits of food from Babs today - and I managed to coax them both onto my lap (one at a time, separately) with their food in my palm - so I think we're getting somewhere!

[squiffs]

Okay so they both went in to roost at about 9, I shut the door, waited 15mins and then came back silently and opened the eggport and was met with beady eyed stares I've been to check on them 3 more times since, it's very dark now, making sure I didn't turn any of the lights on at the back of the house - and every time, they're not asleep! I've stroked them both through the port but then they start clucking and shifting away.

 

So I guess what I'm asking is - how do I know when they're in 'roost mode'? Do they have their eyes shut? Are they just in a trance? If they're not going to sleep at a reasonable time, when will I get to handle Margot? I'm usually in bed by 10:30 at the latest during the week, and if they're not roosting until quite late and then not going to sleep early enough, I'm not really sure when I'm going to get some contact time with my

[Plum]

No contact time!! you are doing brilliantly. You have them both on your lap eating from your hand and you have stroked them in the eglu.

 

Mine are like yours and never seem to go into a trance when I go down. Just carry on as you are and they will be your best buddies

[squiffs]

I guess I'm being a little hard on myself - I shouldn't use Babs as a benchmark, I am seeing little bits of improvement, but when you've got one chicken doing cartwheels and backflips and the other just blinking, it's hard to see what you're doing right and what else you could do. I'll persevere with them the way they have been (and with my trusty friends the mealyworms) and see how silly I feel about worrying in a week's time?