Solitary chicken - need advice

[Coolz]

Hi everyone.

 

So my girls got their first taste of free range this weekend and they loved it! Took everything in their stride. They’ve eaten a lot of bugs and nibbled some greens from the flowerbeds (don’t tell my OH!).

 

They have established their hierarchy… there was a bit of feather pecking but they’re all okay and seem more settled now. When they feather peck, do they just go for near the tail as that’s what these have been doing? I’ve checked them all and there’s no wounds or blood, just some missing feathers so have sprayed some anti-peck stuff and it seems to work. I put another feeder down and extra treats just to be on the safe side.

 

Pan and Lois are thick as thieves, always running around together and make a right fuss if they lose sight of each other. Nuggets is a bit quiet, she’s always on the “outside” of their little circle but they still dust bath together and if they’re having a chill on the ground or perch then they all huddle together. I At one point I was a little concerned Pandora wasn’t a hen as her comb and wattle are larger than the other 2 but I caught her laying an egg so that was settled! I also got worried about Nuggets as she is quieter than the other 2 but I’ve watched her carefully and she’s eating and drinking fine, her comb is a lovely pinky red and she is laying some nice eggs.

 

Nuggets is a very chilled bird. She won’t scutter off if I approach her and just lets me pick her up and enjoys a small fuss. Pan is very outgoing, she will sprint the garden to come see me – it’s so lovely! She’s also easy to handle. She won’t run off but sort of braces, once she’s up and properly supported then she laps up the fuss. Lois is a bit flighty, she’s the one who least likes it so we respect her boundaries a bit more so she doesn’t stress out. They don’t peck at me anymore, they had a tester at me when we first brought them home but they’ve soon realised it doesn’t do anything as I won’t back off and they’ve also realised that I’m not some scary human coming at them to scare them and actually, 9 times out of 10 they’ll get a small handful of treats.

 

Bed times this week were a bit tricky at first, but then they started to see that I was coming in to put then to bed and stopped flapping about. And my biggest proud moment is on Friday night they started putting themselves to bed! On Thursdays we go bell ringing at our church so we get back home around 21:00ish and most nights we start going to bed at that time too. So I went round to see them and Nuggets was inside the house in the nest box and Pan and Lois were trying to roost in the run so got Pandora inside and Lois followed of her on accord. Friday night we went to my parents’ house for tea and came back and immediately went out to put them to bed… had a few seconds heart attack when I couldn’t see them then peered in the house and 3 sleepy birds were all snuggled together  Last night they did the same thing so I’m hoping they’ll keep at it.

 

The eggs are getting bigger now too. They started out quite small (but mighty tasty according to OH) and I collected this morning and found a whopper! It’s actually bigger than the large bought eggs we got before the hens arrived. I’m mighty proud. It could’ve been Lois as I let them out this morning and was surprised to see Nuggets follow Pan so checked inside (whilst panicking a little!) and Lois looked rather cross to be disturbed in the nest box so left her to it.

 

Thanks to the experienced hen owners for the advice this week, it’s amazing to have this forum here and see everyone elses flock too

 

 

Apologies in advance if the pics are huge, I don't know how to re-size...

 

Here is Nuggets exploring..

 

Bottoms up!

 

Lois (left) and Pandora..

 

[chooksRCute]

Hi Cools

I'm new to all this too so was pleased to hear you've had a successful free range.

I've let mine out this weekend, just a small fenced off area around the coop/run & they've been very well behaved in going back in too. I read on here to save the treats till you want them in & it works a treat!

Your photos are lovely,what very pretty girls you have

[Hippie Chick]

Lovely girls, they look like they've had a great time!

 

I'm still plucking up courage to let mine out... I have visions of them flapping into the distance never to be seen again I'm trying to train them to recognise the metal bucket I have and the noise it makes with their treats inside when I shake it as an incentive to return home lol.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Beautiful girls . They look lovely in the sunshine .

[sjp]

smart looking birds. the large egg could be a double yolker

[Coolz]

Ha sjp, I'm hoping it is! I've already bagsied it

 

Yeah I worked all last week with them to recognise the treat box and it worked brilliantly, as soon as I pick it up wherever they are, they seem to sense it and come sprinting across. It's so lovely to see them run

 

They went back in their run really well, I was quite surprised.. they had about 4 hours on Saturday FR and 3 yesterday. The cats are being very good too, I was really surprised to see Mowgli behaving for a change. His body language was relaxed and he wasn't constantly watching them (though Nuggets is pushing her luck sometimes ). Scampi on the other hand has her moments, her eyes go like saucers and does the low and fast ground belly crawl. But she's really good and I'm always there so she backs off if I tell her to. So for now, if the cats are out then I need to be around to oversee things. They went off in a huff about it and ended up bringing us 4 shrews between them all yesterday afternoon. Jasper isn't allowed near them off lead as he's far too interested - as predicted!

[Purplemaniacs]

What lovely girls you have. They seem to be having a great time in the sunshine.

 

Chrissie