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

[Flowerpot]

Can somebody help me please?

I had four hens then one died and I got two more then another two died and left me with three that seemed too few for the eglu cube so I got three new hens yesterday. I really don't have enough space/equipment to separate them properly so i did my best and have now managed to have a "berlin style' wall between them, but how that will work tonight I have no idea. Last night I tried to separate them with an old dog crate but the hens didn't want to go in there they wanted to go into the Eglu so I put the first girls in and then when it was dark popped in the new girls. How I will do that tonight I have no idea.

Now I have found what i believe is a 'lash' from one of the older hens and reading up about it it would seem she has been ill - I had no idea. She seems fine -eating and drinking a fighting when she gets the chance!

 

I feel completely out of my depth.

For all the right reasons I got more hens to give my three girls left more company/warmth in the winter.

Now everything seems to be a mess. I don't know what to do

Can somebody please give me some advice?

Flowerpot

[jimnpaula]

Try not to worry - what you're doing is fine. The wall system is working and it's just somewhere to sleep that's a bit of a problem - you have the dog crate if they want to use it but they could survive sleeping in the run, remember some people's chooks sleep in trees all year round!

And a lash is not uncommon and if she's behaving normally then there's not much wrong.

[Flowerpot]

Thank you for the 'hug' I needed it

 

I have just taken down the wall because one of the new girls keeps getting to the other side and doesn't seem to mind being grabbed between the shoulder blades. She appeared to be at the bottom of the pecking order that came with the three new girls so I suppose she is used to it. One of the problems with the wall was that the new girls couldn't get to the nest box and now the new girl has gone to lay an egg (I think). So I gave up and decided to leave them to it. There doesn't seem to be a desire to kill only to make a point. It's only me that thinks it has been well made!

 

At least the '2nd' girl has stopped squawking. She just kept on and on this morning until I put the wall up. It hasn't started again since the wall came down so that is at least a blessing, and she isn't making a dash for any one of the new girls that she gets in her sights. At the moment the rain has stopped and the girls are in two separate groups so peace reigns!

 

I am grateful to hear that the lash is not uncommon - so I will put that worry aside for now!

 

I think I am going to do the same as I did last night for bed time

I will wait for the old girls to settle in and then when it is dark just pop the others in. Last night there were no repercussions doing that - not even this morning when the were let out. I know I won't sleep if they are not tucked up safely and I have work tomorrow so I need some sleep! I just hate to leave them in this state when I go to work. I am at home for an hour at lunchtime but it is what happens between that worries me and to build the wall I need to leave the door of the run open. That really would freak me out leaving them to roam whilst i am not home.

 

Still tomorrow is another day!

 

Thanks for listening

Flowerpot

[Flowerpot]

Put the old girls to bed and decided to use a bigger cage to see if the new girls would use it. Left the house door open earlier and the new girls came in for a nosy and one of them went into the cage on her own so i know it is acceptable.

When the old girls went into the eglu I closed the door and moved the cage into the run. Whilst doing that one of the new girls flew onto the eglu roof and was looking for a way in, so I decided to do the same as last night and put them in. All was quiet so I hope they will have a good night.

 

Because I am at work tomorrow I have decided to put the girls into the bigger cage whilst I am out so that I don't have to worry about them being hurt whilst I am away. I can let them out at lunchtime and then again once I am home from work. I have set it up with a food and water station - well the space for one - so they can feed and have water whilst I am away.

 

I have no idea whether this will eventually mean they will all get on or not, but at least they will all be safe whilst I am out, which was my worry.

I hope they all get on in the end.

 

Flowerpot

[Flowerpot]

Well here we are three weeks later and I am still having problems settling the hens.

They finally cope with being together in the run but not at night time.

I become a banshee out of sheer frustration that the old girls won't let the little ones go into the eglu to sleep at all.

For the last two nearly three weeks they have slept separately - the little girls in the dog crate. I felt that I was making it worse by having a separate place for them to sleep so I've moved the dog crate out and replaced it with a field shelter so the little girls can still get up high if they need to get out of the way of the old girls but I want them to sleep in the eglu together. Last night I waited until it was dark and put the little ones in and there was a major fight but it was short lived because I shouted and it got dark!

Tonight I tried putting the little ones in after the old one had settled but before it was dark. Well what a mess. Major fights to the point of me shouting and all the hens being terrified!

I have left the pop hole open and the ladder in place and the little hens sleeping on the roof of the shelter in the closed run. I have never left the pop hole open. I am afraid of stoats getting in and killing the hens - but I don't want the little girls not to have a place of safety if they need one.

What am I going to do?

Should I put the dog crate back or leave them to sleep in the run with the pop hole open for them through the night?

Can someone help me please

I have no idea if I make the situation worse by having separate places to sleep or not.

 

Help!http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/posting.php?mode=reply&f=5&t=100425#

Flowerpot

[mullethunter]

I think for a few nights you need to go out after dark and put the new girls into the Eglu.

[Flowerpot]

Thank you for this

I have just been out in the pitch dark except for the outside garden light picked them up and put them in quickly with no hesitation.

There was a bit of a rumble but I didn't wait to hear any more just left them and switched off the light.

I hope they are alright.

I am such an idiot making such a fuss about it.

I know there is a pecking order business that has to be gone through but I just don't get why they are so horrible with each other when they lack for nothing and it is three weeks now.

Still - thank you for this and I will keep giving it a go until they go in for themselves.

Thank you Mullethunter - I wish you were here!

Flowerpot

[mullethunter]

I wouldn't be so good if I was there! It's much easier to know the right think to do and to stick to it from afar! Ive been through it with mine and I know it's horrible but by shoving them in and walking away you're doing the right thing. After a few nights the new girls should be able to get to bed in there albeit perhaps not particularly calmly (see an old post from me 'Should bedtime be more harmonious?'.

[eve]

Hi i used to wait till darkness had fallen or at least getting dark and put my new hens in did this for 2 week and they were fine. Had trouble in the day for a couple of weeks i just let them free range so they could escape beining bullied.nows all well thye a a happy 6 girl flock.treated myself to a wir and leave coop door open all the time now.will shut it when the cold wether comes.hope you get there its not nice hearing them fight but when the pecking order is sorted they will be fine stick with it xx

[kinsk]

I know a lot of people will disagree but I am really not a fan of this "Berlin Wall" type of introduction. Rather then them getting used to each other I think it sets up an "us and them" situation and causes more stress.

 

Any newbies to our flock get put in the hen hut after dark, an couple of hours after the established flock has gone to bed and settled down. In the morning they all get let out together, smelling of each other, no fuss, no fights, and then the newbies follow the others back to bed.

 

I've used this to introduce anything from 5 hens at once, an individual hen to a flock of 20+ and a young cockerel to the flock where there was already another cockerel.

[Flowerpot]

I think you are right kinsk. I think that is what I have done by having the cage for the new ones to sleep in but the old girls were so horrible to the new ones. Even Martha who I thought was the most diplomatic of all the girls was horrible.

Anyway - this is the second night I have waited until pitch dark and then put them in and there wasn't a sound.

I have had to leave the girls in the wir all day today and when I got home they were glad to come out to have some free range time. By the mess it looks as if the new girls spent most of the day on the roof of their shelter!

They are ok when the free range because they can get away from each other and I noticed that the new girl who was the most dominant of the new three was submissive to the old dominant girl so maybe the new girls are learning their place at last so that there is less beastly behaviour.

I shall have to leave them again tomorrow so we shall see what happens.

I do hope they start to settle.

Thank you so much for your support - I don't feel like I am such a useless newbie.

Flowerpot

[Flowerpot]

Just read your piece mullethunter and I feel so much better.

I thought it was just me; that I had got it so very wrong and it was never going to right itself.

I feel a little more hopeful.

The new girls are so timid they won't push themselves in - that is my worry. I suppose if I keep putting them in when it is dark we may get there in the end.

Flowerpot

[mullethunter]

Glad to be a help Flowerpot. Keep plugging away

[Flowerpot]

Here I am at the end of the first week of putting the little birds into the eglu once it is pitch dark.

They get on fine when they are in because it is so dark they can't see each other and even in the morning they are not so bad though Mable the dominant hen is still nasty with the little ones.

Tonight I watched them before it got dark but after the big girls had gone in and Mable came out jumped on top of the roof of the shelter where the little birds now sit at night and she pecked poor Alice - the nearest bird - and then jumped down and went back into the eglu - so mean! She was obviously making sure they knew their place and stayed in it. I do think though that they make room near the pop hole for them to be put in but the little ones are still afraid to go in by themselves.

It feels like my nightly routine will have to be putting the little girls to bed in the dark. Still maybe after two weeks they will have sorted themselves out? Somehow I imagine Mable will never give in!

I know she is afraid but how we get over the timid bully I have no idea except just keeping on!?

Heyho - I love a routine!

Flowerpot