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sarkymite

Introductions. What a racket!

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After losing Hen tlwards the end of last year we started thinking of adding new chickens to our remaining flock of two. We've taken our time over the preparations, extending the WIR, fencing off a 30 foot section of the garden so they can't trash the flowers/ get under next doors fence, etc. Ultimately as we were in a higher risk area for bird flu we also ended up waiting until yesterday as didn't want to be in a situation where introductions had to be made in a confined space. So yesterday we got our new chickens! Two 17 week old pullets, both hybrids, one a black n gold job and the other a creamy one. The black n gold was literally ready to start laying but we were warned the cream type take longer to mature and she may not lay until about 22 weeks.

We had previously taken lot of advice from the lady who boards our chooks when we go away, she seems v v knowledgeable, though not all her advice accords exactly with what we've read online. We also took advice from the place we got the new birds from.

So, new birds home yesterday late morning and straight in the Elgu, door shut, for an hour and then let out into the small run (this now forms a tunnel to the big run, we blocked off the end so they were fully separated). The older ladies freeranging. Petula, the "sub" of our existing flock came straight over, puffed, displayed, angry and vocal and spent a while trying to get at them through the bars but then it all settled. Wilma, our "boss", paid them almost no attention. We then let them have the run of the whole run with the older girls shut out in the garden for a couple of hours and then let them meet and it went ok other than quite a lot of loud squarking from Petula. So on our very experienced chicken sitters advice (which is contrary to the advice online but we've never done this before so just working out what works and decided to go with her no nonsense approach!) we popped them all inside the Eglu once the big girls were drowsy and they all went to sleep with no fuss. I opened the Eglu door before I turned in so that they could get up when they liked this mornong. Tbh we never have it closed unless it's really cold as it's enclosed with the run so pretty secure (I hope!) ... Result! ...

Until 6.04 this morning. Sweet heavens above I have never before been woken by such an unholy racket! It wasn't chickens fighting sound, just one very, very angry and indignant bird. So I blearily trundled down the garden in pjs and wellies to find baby girls still drowsy in the coop, Wilma having breakfast, and Petula up on the outside perch (in the WIR) swearing herself blue in the face at next doors cat who was sat watching her. :wall:

Anyhoo... I shooed off the cat and dropped down the divider so the babies (when they eventually got up) would be separate from the biggies, had stern words with Petula that might have involved something about soup, and went back to bed. That chicken didn't stop bokking and screeching for a full 45 minutes. It echoed. It will have woken the entire neighbourhood. Ugh.

Anyhoo... I got up again at 8, took the birds some treats intending to open up the divider and supervise but I found one of the new babies in the nest so left it a while longer. Went back out at 9.30 and she's still on the nest but looking a tad confused so I felt around under her and she has laid a teensy tiny lovely little egg!! Awww !egg!PP:D

So then over the next hour I had the babies in the run, oldies freeranging until Petula practically has her legs crossed wanting the nest (she shunned my temp nestbox I have made for the introductory period haha). So I took the plunge and let them all out to freerange.

Things went basically ok. Petula Went to sit in the nest for a while and whilst she was out of the picture the other 3 got on just fine. After that Petula has chased the babies a bit and has jumped on their backs if she's managed to corner them, there have been a few episodes of loud and pointless bokking and squarking, but overall it's been ok. I have sat outside with them almost all day though.

Towards late afternoon something went awry. Petula went for the less mature newbie who (despite being clipped!) scaled the fence and spent the next hour on the patio with us. Then Petula and Wilma did a tag team attack on the other newbie, cornering her and both getting on her back. My OH shooed them off and we put both new girls back in the small run with Eglu access and dropped the divider down again, shutting the big girls in the main run as we needed to go inside. Stayed that way til dusk, babies had put themselves to bed and biggies wanted in to the eglu. I tried opening the divider. Petula clearly wasn't ready for bed yet as she went into the Eglu and dominated both babies pretty heavily but then walked out again so I shut the Eglu door and left them another 20 mins until it was pretty dark, then reopened it to let biggies in to bed where they settled with no fuss at all. All 4 peacefully sleeping. I went out 45 mins ago to check and all good but I do freak myself out going up the garden in the dark and was convinced I could see a pair of eyes reflected in my torch off at the boundary hedge. I put it out of my mind but then 10 mins later OH came in from a trip to get milk and said there's a fox prowling out the front. Eek! :shock: let's hope the Omlet runs are as fox proof as they claim. This is the first fox we've seen since moving here in October.

So it's all go here... what's the betting I will be having a very early start again tomorrow? :roll:

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All good this morning. I got up at 5.50 (!!!!! :shock: ) in anticipation of more noise thinking I'd scatter some oats and corn, split them up and hope the neighbours weren't woken on Easter Sunday. Went down garden to find big girls up and on the outside perch gently chirping, one little one standing sleepily nearby also chirping quietly and the last one still in bed. I put the divider in place anyway and went back to bed and we haven't had a peep from them until now (I'm still in bed Haha!) and what I've just heard sounds more like an egg announcement than anything to worry about. I'm off for the day to visit family so OH and SD2 will be in charge, they will free range them all together later and hopefully things will continue to go well. We'll all be keeping a close eye for that foxy though!

I can now officially use all 4 chicken emoji as we have (roughly speaking) one of each colour! GNR(Bluebelle)PP(white chicken):lol:

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Amazing how much noise one hen can produce... my two tiny bantams are broody and Ginger is feeling rather lonely. She trying to fill the space with sound too... :wall:

 

Next time do introductions whilst boarding your chickens. That's what I did and it was fast and very stress free (for me that is!).

As they are on neutral turf, you have little to no fighting and they will just figure out the pecking order. And best of all: no noise! :wink:

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After a very long day I've just got back and OH tells me things haven't been great today. Chasing/pecking and ganging up has increased today. So I think it'll be another 5.50am start for me :roll:

I wonder why it's our normally more submissive chicken that's being the aggressor and I wonder how long before they can be safely left all in the same run. We go back to work on Wednesday and it'd be nice not to have the divider in the run by then...

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Well my alarm didn't go off this morning but I needn't have worried as I was awken at precisely 6am by a commotion in the chicken coop. So I hot footed it down the garden to do the divider. Though there is still chasing and pinning going on the babies seem bolder and less concerned about it this morning. I suppose if they eventually stop reacting that might help Petula stop doing it?!

Anyhoo divider in and me back to bed again. As I spent half the night awake planning a run-redesign for the interior of the WIR, I hope it's stopped raining when i get up again :lol:

By the way... How strong is the Eglu classic run?! I just tripped and landed on it full body weight and did a rather undignified roll/splits combo onto the grass off it, but it just wobbled up and down a bit! I got soaked and covered in fresh pigeon guano that was on the run cover, but the run is fine :clap:

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It's Petula who has the most to gain from this intro. She is now bottom chicken, but can have two other below her if she is dominant enough! And clearly she saw the opportunity too.

 

Hope you had a nice shower before you tucked back in with your hubby! :lol:

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Next time do introductions whilst boarding your chickens. That's what I did and it was fast and very stress free (for me that is!).

As they are on neutral turf, you have little to no fighting and they will just figure out the pecking order. And best of all: no noise! :wink:

 

LOVE this idea! :lol: Definitely one to keep in mind for next time!

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It's Petula who has the most to gain from this intro. She is now bottom chicken, but can have two other below her if she is dominant enough! And clearly she saw the opportunity too.

 

Hope you had a nice shower before you tucked back in with your hubby! :lol:

 

Yeah I was guessing it must be that. She sees an opportunity to be deputy head so she's really anxious to assert herself. I wish she's stop. Or at least lose her voice! She's so so so noisy!! How many days would they normally actively seek out and target the newbies for? I.e. at what stage does it turn from normal to problem aggression? She's cross this morning and doing her nut trying to get through the divider.

 

I changed my pjs... Does that count? :lol::lol::lol:

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