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Lesley-Jean

R.I.P. Gerty

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I'm very sad today. I had to have Gerty put to sleep :cry:

 

She became very ill with egg peritonitis and was not responding to antibiotics. We may have been able to pull her back with a large dose by injection but she was very weak and it was kindest to let her go.

 

We've buried her in the flower bed where she was never allowed to go but would have loved to. I threw some meal worms in with her for her journey :cry::cry::cry:

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I have found a very good breeder near by to get a new bird from

 

Hen House Poultry Maidstone:

 

http://www.freewebs.com/bantams-for-the-garden/index.htm

 

I've not had to introduce a new bird before so am finding the prospect a bit scary.

 

My garden is small and I have no room for a larger run than the standard eglu 6ft one. I can, therefore, only accommodate 2 hens. I will not be able to take our advice to introduce two hens rather than one :evil:

 

Does anyone have any ideas how I can keep them separated while I'm out as they have to stay in a run (we have foxes). I need Hatty to have access to a nesting box and the new girl will need to "stamp" her ownership on the eglu and run to prevent Hattie from beating her up.

 

Any ideas would be great :!:

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Hi Lesly-Jean

 

So sorry to hear about Gertie. She did sound very poorly so you made the right decision, although it must have been difficult.

 

When I introduced two more to my orignal two in the eglu run I divided it with a bit of mesh between the two segments of the run and secured it with strong tie wraps. The original two had access to the nest box and used the egg door as their way in and out. They all slept in the eglu at night so a bit of a faff because I had to take the new girls out of the eglu in the morning and post through the front of the run and pop them in through the egg door at night. I let them out together when I was around but it did take some time before I could let them all in the run together. I eventually did this by removing the mesh just before dusk with them in the run. The new girls did get chased around and turffed out the eglu several times but as they were sleepy by then they soon settled down for the night. After 2-3 days of this I was happy to remove the mesh completely.

 

It is a bit of a faff, I have to say and I did have the eglu converter so the old girls had the standard size run between them. Also removing the mesh for the final few days involved taking the tie wraps off and re-tying after they'd gone to bed ready for the next day.

 

I think Snowy used bamboo canes pushed through the gaps of the eglu to make a barrier - sounds like this would be easier!!

 

E

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Sorry to hear about Gerty :cry:

 

When our new girls arrived we kept them in a dog cage covered with Tarp during the morning until Hilda and Vera had laid, then we shut them in the eglu run whilst H & V free ranged. It seemed to do the trick as when we finally put them all together 3 weeks later they were fine.

 

Do let us know how you go on :wink:

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:( Just read this LJ, and send hugs & sympathy. I know how much you have cared so well for Gerty through her illness, RIP Gerty.

 

I think Elaine C's advice on an intro is spot on. The sleeping in the Eglu together really does help, with the suggested daytime separation for a few days. Scattering mixed corn or other treats either side of the shared fence gives the safe illusion of feeding together and will reassure Harriet that she always has enough food to share.

When the barrier comes down, try & have 2 or 3 temporary feed stations until you're happy they really are sharing well. Even if there are some difficult times in establishing the pecking order, it really isn't long until you can look back & think it was not too bad at all!

 

Thinking of you Lesley Jean, lots of love xx

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Good luck LJ.

 

Sheila's right, did seem difficult at first especially as the first time of introducing new girls so really nervous about the whole thing but looking back it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time, if that makes sense!

 

Hope the intros go well :) Let us know how things go.

 

E

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