Unsecure chicken perches

[Leonie56]

Hi

I lost one of my girls this morning so I am left with just one. I am getting 3 more girls on Saturday. I'm a little confused as to how to introduce, I'm familiar with the normal introducing process but don't want to keep the 3 new girls together for a couple of weeks then introduce my remaining one girl as this will be like a lamb to slaughter. Am I best just to put them all to bed together and hope they get on in the morning?

[Random_Girl66]

So sorry that you have lost one of your chooks. Hope it wasn't too traumatic for you or her.

 

Might be an idea to keep the newbies separate for a couple of weeks for quarantine purposes if you can. Do you have another run so that they can maybe be near each other (the 3 and the 1) during that period without being in direct contact? Won't be such a shock when they actually meet face to face maybe. From what I have read on this forum a lot seems to depend on the character of the chickens involved - some are more mellow than others!

 

I'm not very experienced in new introductions so maybe someone else can offer a better view on this particular situation.

[Gertie]

Sorry to hear you lost your hen.

 

I did the exact same intro a couple of months ago, and the same a few years back. This time I had 2 eglus side by side and they were neighbours for a few weeks. Then they free ranged together for a bit and my remaining hen put all 3 of them in their place. After a couple of weeks they were fine. They now live in pairs in the 2 eglus and all get on fine when free ranging.

 

The other time a couple of years ago I just had a cube so I was advised to put them in together of an evening, making sure there were perches,distractions and hanging cabbages etc. I watched them with a water pistol and squirted the dominant hen if she was too mean. They were fine after a week. I watched them closely. I have found that the 3 new young hens are the ones that get pecked by the remaining hen both times. Mine were POL hybrids both times.

 

Hope it goes well.

[Leonie56]

Thanks you both for the advice. She's a very gentle hen so may put them together at night and see how they get on.