advice needed

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lynne

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I am so upset this morning, as have discovered that due to my own stupidity, foxes have had two out of my three chickens. They wouldnt come in, and I meant to go back a bit later on, but totally forgot. Ive never done it before, and our hen house and run is totally fox proof, for a while, couldnt work out how it had got in, till I realised!

I now just have the one girl left, and want to get her some companions, but havent a clue what or where to get any (these were just ordinary brown hens from a farm closure), and how to stop them fighting when I put new ones in.... Im in north northants, and if anyone has any ideas, particularly as to how to introduce new ones, I would be grateful. I dont want the one left to be bullied, or for her to bully any others. How likely is this to happen? I would like good egg layers - these girls laid the most enormous and delicious brown eggs - that are easy to look after.

Grateful for any advice - and believe me, wont be making that mistake again!!
Lynne
 
In this case Lynne you would probably be OK just putting two straight in because they will be disorientated and the one on her own will be lonely. Yes they will squabble whatever you do and they will need to be kept in for a couple of days to establish their bearings. I would normally recommmend two weeks quarantine, but that doesn't help your solitary hen.

I get straying hens in with a rattle of a feed scoop and a bit of grain -never fails.
 
Try not to blame yourself Lynne. I'll bet there isn't a person on these poultry forums who hasn't at some time or other forgotten to lock their chickens away at night - it's just unfortunate that you were unlucky on the one occasion that you happened to forget.

Make sure you've got some Gentian purple spray in stock for when you get your new chickens in case there are any minor squabbles and good luck with getting your new chickens.
 
I must admit to twice forgetting to lock my girls in the house at night I awoke in the morning to find the girls out in there run squawking for food. Fortunately I got away with it. Really sorry the one day you did this you lost your girls. You will need to especially careful
now because now the fox knows there is food there he will be back.
There is going to be bickering no matter what you do but its better than your little girl being looney and it does usually settle down after a couple of days. Just have on hand anti pecking spray. Good luck
 
whoops did not mean looney my silly computer keeps trying to correct what it thinks is a mistake I meant to say lonely
 
sorry to hear about what happened but as already said most or all of us at some time or another have made stupid mistakes that we all learn from i have certainly had my fair share , if you was closer i would be more then happy for you to have some of my girls but i am to far away.
 
Thanks everyone, have found lovely specialist farm nearby and bought three girls, sussex, bluebelle, and um cant remember the other one. thought would be nice to have ones that were a bit different. They are still in a crate, waiting for dark, so I can put them into the house. fingers x'd that all goes well.
My girls wouldnt come for corn when there was lovely, juicy worms to scrabble for - in this part of garden, there is lots of deep leaf litter, so they have a paradise for worms!! Most days I left them to it, whilst I went and cleaned out other animals, but then went back... still kicking myself that i so totally forgot!!
But at least they were eaten, not just killed - found big piles of stripped out feathers, which although gruesome, at least tells me they were eaten.
 
So sorry, there for the grace of God go I....I think every one of us have done that at some time, I am very lucky as my dogs, they are wolf look a likes, would let me know if Mr Fox was about.

I think just take the plunge and keep an eye on them. I have a "creche" pen I can put in if I need to introduce new chickens.

Good luck, hope it goes well.
 
Hi Lynne and welcome to the Forum. I'm sorry it's in such distressing circumstances.
There are lots of threads on here about integrating new birds if you use the Search box. You might try separating the present hen from the new ones with a length of mesh or chicken netting across the run, with two lots of food and water, so they can see each other for a few days or a week before actually meeting. Make a temporary dry roosting box for one half, and let the new ones use this. Im assuming the run is safe if they are not locked up in the coop at night. When ready to integrate, go down after they have gone to sleep, wipe something smelly on their feathers ( lavender oil or vinegar work OK) and gently lift the new ones in to perch in the coop with the old hen. Then they will sleep together and wake up smelling the same and this will reduce scuffles next morning.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
thanks for all your help, an update....
we bought 3 new birds, all 24 weeks old. A bluebelle, light sussex and speckaldy? Picked them up as late as possible and put them into coop after dark...all was quiet, (I went out several times to check) but following day, the old bird was first out of the house, and wasnt letting them out of house, and I was worried they werent getting to water or food. Everytime they popped their heads out, she would charge at them squawking madly. The bluebelle, in particular, seems terrified of her. (she also seems to come in for pecks from the other two as well, though the farm assured me they would all get on!)
I have put a large puppy crate into pen, and put her in it, so they can come out, and can get to food and water. Tonight, will use a smaller crate and put her into house like that. I like the idea of using something smelly and will definitely try that. They are coming out more, but still staying well away from her in her crate. I geuss I wait till they are confident in the run, and getting closer to her in her crate? do feel sorry for her, having to be kept in small container like this though :o( I really hope that things will settle down, hate to see them being bullied...
 
a new house a new friend and new smells is a big thing for a chicken to take on all in one go but in time things will settle just that bit more and in time they will all be best buddies , how big is your run area for them it might be worth spilting it into different sized areas with doorways to each area for easy excess then at least birds wont need to be kept in a small cage .
my run is 33f by 25 ft and is split into 3 different sized areas so i can move birds around if need be not that i have had to do that for some time as i discovered little bantams :lol: and they live full time in the extension area that i origainlly built to house the big girls in if i ever needed to have thier main part of the run for myself so then they can be locked away and i can leave the main gate open.
hope all goes well with your girls please keep us updated :D
 
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