Chanto Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 Hi, I've 3 hens which I hatched myself. They are 3 months old. I've bought another 3 month old hen last week. I'm segregating her in the chicken house at night but she can be seen by the other. During the day all the hens roam around on over half an acre of garden. Trouble is, my 3 hens are being horrid to the new girl and chase her away and peck at her all the time. I've even seen them standing on her when she was huddled in a corner of the garden. My original 3 are very tame and probably a bit spoilt. The new girl will eat from my hand if the others are not around. When will our new girl be accepted? At the moment I have to carry her "home" at night as she will not follow the others anywhere. It's my first flock of chickens and I'd like to introduce another couple of hens and eventually a cockerel. All advice welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P> Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 It nearly always happens, the last in is also last in the "pecking order" and is picked on by the others it can happen even when the last bird is physically bigger than the others the best thing to do if there is no blood fights is to leave them to it they will settle . The bird should be with the others when they sleep introduce it when they are asleep when they are most docile and they will get used to her quicker and dont worry about the coq he will sort them out, no problems as he grows quicker than they do and soon assumes total leadership of "his" flock.Our last in is called Hilda and she was picked on by birds a lot younger than her she is still the meekest bird until it comes to feeding time when she turns into a monster she will jump across three of their backs to pull the treat out of her main protagonists beak and run off the food amazing to watch If I throw five baby tomatoes towards them she will get three or four before you can blink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanto Posted August 28, 2005 Author Share Posted August 28, 2005 Thank you pinkfluff for those encouraging words. I'll take "Snow" down tonight when the others are sleepy and not segregate her. All has been quiet in the garden today. Mostly lazing under a big Quince bush but as soon as food is about - or I am about - all hell breaks loose again.Here's a pic of our first born - we have another black one like this. Is this a special breed - having no feathers on the neck. Our other hen is typical brown speckly and gorgeous. These two are a bit ugly but we love 'em. The eggs came from a farmer friend who has chickens of all shapes and sizes but doesn't know what breeds they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P> Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 That picture is frightening. poor sod, you see the "naked necks"all over our area and I always wondered who could possible love them chickens did you hatch them via a incubator .We are waiting for a broody hen but they never go when you want them and its getting a bit late in the year now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanto Posted August 28, 2005 Author Share Posted August 28, 2005 Quite agree it's a frightening site - I use this pic for my MSN Messenger - that certainly scares people.We were thinking of going to Les Herolles market in the morning but have a dilemma - perhaps you can help. Would getting two more hens and putting them together cause even more chaos so that we have three separate areas in the hen house or if we get a cockerel will that shock them all into behaving themselves. All seemed reasonable tonight and Snow actually followed the others down to the hen house so we didn't have to carry her, but once inside the bullying started in ernest and we have had to segregate her again. It's very upsetting to see and my hubby is getting very cross with our original three.Yes, we did use an incubator. Out of the five eggs I was given one was infertile, one chick died on hatching and two were helped into the world. Glad we did it as we couldn't bear to watch then dying in the shell. I brought 6 chicken, 6 duck and 1 goose egg back from UK recently from a friend and on each hatch day the incubator packed up. In the end we got nought. The goose egg was infertile (thankfully with hindsight) and we lost two ducks on hatch day. Also lost 3 chickens. Such a sad thing to know they died inside the shell so all the more attached to them when they survive. We were hoping for a cockerel with our lot so that they could have their own young but it appears we have 3 hens. We have more sleepless nights over these flipping chickens than we ever did with the children!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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