Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[tatjana]

Dear All,

 

We have been a chicken owning family for around 5 years now, and would really like some advise on increasing our brood!

 

We started off with 4 hybrids which we were told were good 'beginner' chickens, and around 2 years later added a further 6 chickens, which consisted of:

- 1 barred wyandottle,

- 1 silver laced wyandotte,

- 1 Vorwerk,

- 1 buff plymouth rock,

- 1 spanish penedescenca, and

- 1 copper black maran.

 

Sadly over the years we have lost quite a few, and now only have 4 chickens remaining, the 2 wyandottes, the plymouth rock, and the spanish penedescenca.

 

We are looking to purchase 3 or 4 new chickens to introduce to the others, and would appreciate any recommendations on friendly, easy to care for breeds, and also where we should purchase our chickens from.

 

Our wyandottes have been great hardy and well-behaved little birds, so maybe there is something similar someone could suggest?

 

We would also really welcome any tips on introducing new birds to our old ones, as the last time around it was quite tricky! I have heard that putting them in at night when the others are sleepy can work?

 

Any advice would be a great help!

 

Kind Regards,

 

Tatjana

[Plum]

Hi, I always take the slow approach to introducing and keep near but seperate until they get used to each other, though last time my girl just jumped over my shoulder and joined the others after a day or so

 

There are lots of lovely wyandotte colours how about a partridge one? or a nice buff orp. Pekins are fun but small and mine doesn't often bother to lay

[eve]

i put my new girls in at night and had no problems i only had 2 battams that i had for a week.. so not sure if they all felt new. there was no probs and have been great and laying ever since.most people on here tend to do intros very slowly but the fast night oppsion worked for me.

[jaspersmum]

Hiya. We tried the 'all in the house together at night' trick (as recommended by Ben at Hen House Poultry - cheers Ben) for our very first intros and it worked a treat. We kept a close eye on them over the next few days and there was a bit of squabbling and squaring up to each other initially but nothing bad at all. We introduced 3 newbies to 2 existing girls which may have helped as the old flock was outnumbered.

 

The next time we did it was as per the text book when introducing our ex-batts to the flock i.e. had them in separate runs next to each other for a couple of weeks and let them out together for a stroll. Result? World war 3!! It was an absolute nightmare, they fought continually and took weeks to get them to play nicely.

 

I'd definitely try the night time introductions again next time but I would make sure that all the girls were similar sizes and all healthy - I think real littlies or wobbly recent ex-batts might find it all a bit overwhelming. Having said that it was the wobbly ex-batts that started all the fights and could more than look after themselves. I think as long as you keep a very close eye on them and are ready to step in if it gets really nasty or blood gets drawn either approach could work. As with most things chook related it's a bit trial and error.

 

Good luck!