Thinking about new hens

rick

rick

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Now I'm confident that my fox proofing is good its looking a bit empty in the run as we are down to 3;
Linden seems to be recovering well (Sablepoot bantam cock, about 950g)
Betty the CLB hen (about 1.8kg) - Betty has successfully laid a good egg since the attack so no worries.
Aerial the Blacktail hen (about 2kg) - untouched in the attack.

Going over to Warwickshire Chicken Coop tomorrow to see what they have and maybe come back with a couple but I'm in two minds about moving the balance bigger or smaller. Have wanted to go in the direction of bantams and I certainly don’t want any that wont handle reasonable confinement or will give Linden a hard time but not sure if that would necessarily mean smaller hens.
It seems that the hens that are the best natured tend to be heavy breeds - got a short list of Plymouth Rock, Sussex, Welsumer, Wyandotte with outsiders (due to being rarer) of Holland and Java,
but they are all bigger than Aerial.
Carol likes the look of the barred and laced varieties or a glossy black and would prefer full size eggs. I like them too - am not keen on feathered feet personally and don’t have the space to make flightier birds happy (Friesian's look great but probably impossible to find and need more space.)
Also came across Jersey Giants in my search - Wow! One of those would make Betty's eyes swivel! I wonder what the balance is between nature and size? Orpingtons apparently get bullied but at what point in size difference would they bully back I wonder?

Im not being serious about Jersey Giants!

Will probably just go along tomorrow and see what's there - now know chickens better I may be able to spot a couple that look like they will integrate without too much fuss.

Sorry, thats a lot of musing! Any thoughts?
 
Even thinking abut new hens makes me excited.
I will never give up Croads and intend to make them my main layers, but not all of them are good layers.
I have tried in vain over the years to get some Plymouth barred Rock, and never succeeded, but as now some of my girls are really ancient I am thinking again of reliable layers, and I think Plymouth BR fit the bill, and like Croads are apparently nice gentle hens, I've heard Wyandottes can be a bit hard to handle, and also Marans, if my Speckeldy a (Marans X) is anything to go by, positively nasty to the others.

All the best in your search, happy hen hunting.
 
That's interesting about the Wyandottes Val. If I should happen to see Croads I'd defiantly be tempted now.
Its a difficult thing to search on the net for - hens that are sociable with other hens. Docile usually means likes people/good with children (but may turn into a crazed tyrant when it sees another chicken!)
Of course, I probably wont see any of these uptowners and will fall for a couple of oddballs that are in the bantam pen because they have been kicked out of the big run by the others - like last time.
 
Happy Easter and good morning

Brahmas are big and very beautiful and friendly, definitely people loving and gentle, and also Orpingtons, but I have never actually held an Orpington.

It is such a shame that bantams lay bantam eggs! nothing beats a large brown or white eggs, does it?
 
Most birds have bantam varieties Rick, you just have to be patient and prepared to travel to source them, Welsummer, Wyandotte and Sussex certainly do. I would take my time to have a think about what you really want, whatever you put in will almost certainly be bottom of the pecking order and the size will make no difference to that. Big birds can get bullied by small birds just as easily as vice versa.
 
Yes, and I was just thinking that it would probably be best to wait a while anyway so that Linden can get his mojo back and make a good impression from the outset although they will be either side of a partition for at least a couple of weeks.
Will go over there today anyway and see what’s on offer. They are booked in for boarding there in August when we go to Japan for 2 weeks (!!!!) and need to see the set up anyway.
 
Yes I think it would be best to let Linden recover. Re Japan, how exciting!. Whereabouts are you going?.
 
Unfortunately, both wisdom and patience are not my strong points!
I came away with a Blue Orphington and a Hergnies. They were last summers hatch and grew up together.
The Hergnies is really sweet, about the same size as Aerial but heavier. The Orphngton is a lot of girl!
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My lot are making an enormous racket at the moment. The two new hens are in the partition and I have to sort out some nesting arrangement as they are both in lay.

It is very exciting Dinosaw! We’ve never been before and I am taking Japanese lessons to try to be a bit prepared. We are going to Tokyo first for 3 days in a hotel to get over the trip then down to Kyoto for the Daimonji festival staying in a house. Then a couple of days in Ise on the beach front. We will visit the Grand Shrine while there and ring the bell :)
Then back to Tokyo and fly out the next day. Its gonna be hot - I don’t do hot very well and vegetarian (for Carols sake) is going to be an almost impossible challange but I cant wait!

... Aerial and Mrs O (no names yet) are sizing up to each other through the wire. Hergnies doesn’t seem bothered and has already laid a big pure white egg.
... OMG. These Hergneis are the birds Jllvehdist took to Cypress on the plane!!!
 
To be honest Rick, as soon as you said you were still going to have a look I knew you would be coming back with birds. They look like nice birds, I hope your Orp keeps her bum cleaner than mine does.

One of our trips to Japan was in July and it can get quite hot and pretty humid, at least your not going as far down as Kyushu. Did you decide to go on a tour in the end or independent?. Tokyo is a great city, you will only scratch the surface in 3-4 days, Kyoto is completely different a lot more sedate and there are some stunning temples to see. Never been to Ise so you will have to tell me what you think of it. I am delighted because you have given me a flimsy excuse to post some of my photos for your supposed benefit :D
 
Post away!
We looked at the tours and I'm sure they're great but we decided that, for the most part, we just wanted to be in Kyoto and explore around at a leisurely pace. I want to get on the train to Osaka without much of a plan and get lost, at least until tea time! (trusting that the public transport is as clockwork as everyone says it is.)
But then Nara is also not far away. We will probably be hopping around all over the place anyway.
 
Wise choice. Japan is an easy country to get around, just remember to Takkyubin your luggage when you move between cities. Have stayed in Osaka and visited it on another trip out of Kyoto to see a Sumo tournament, visited Nara out of Kyoto also. Provided your not all "templed out" my opinion would be that Nara is the better bet on a first visit just because it can take time to orientate yourself in Osaka, but if your happy enough drifting about then it doesn't really matter. Hiroshima and Himeji are also easily doable on a day trip from Kyoto. I'll shut up now though, just genuinely excited as I love Japan, wish it was me going (apart from the flight).
 
Thanks Dinosaw. Had to look up what Takkyubin was - have it delivered next next day - good idea.
We will be generally going between the museums and galleries and seeing stuff on the way. I’m not dead set on the lost in Osaka experience, it was just one of the fancies that got me wanting to go - that and ringing the bell. I have no idea whether its possible or permitted to walk from the outer to the inner shrine of Amaterasu - probably not but we shall find out!
Apparently there are sacred chickens!
Anyway - Belle (the Hergnies) and Bonnie (the Orp) are getting used to the new accommodation. I think I’m going to need to upgrade the nest boxes for Bonnie. Linden is side shuffling towards her (like a tug coming alongside the QE2) so his mojo seems intact!
 
You may find your alright with the nest boxes, amazing how much of an Orpington is feathers, not that it hurts anything. Good to see Linden is back on form. Physically speaking cock birds are hard as nails I have found and bounce back very quickly indeed. Our little Orp is quite feisty and second ranking bird, she saw off an attempt by Birdogan to tread her yesterday, it's funny that he tried his arm with her as she really hates him. He only tried it as the Count is in the process of trying to woo his Aruacana's away from him at the moment and his other three hens are all sitting on eggs.

I mentioned the Takkyubin as there is nowhere to put large bits of luggage on the Shinkansen, I've seen tourists struggle with huge cases and bags on there and it ain't pretty.
 
Finally achieved multi-colour eggdom :)
Suddenly Betty's blue eggs look normal sized and Aerial's hybrid eggs look big!
The colours are a little out - Belle's egg is totally white.

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... I am sensing that this isnt going to be an easy introduction (and my 'g' key has broken on my keyboard which doesn’t help! - havein to copy and paste!)
The partition is really too small so have been letting the existing gang out in the garden so that the new pair can move around a bit more but got to go to work tomorrow. Hergnies (Belle) is a very skittish bird - almost wild like although Orp (Bonnie) and her stick together like glue (so many 'g's!)
Betty is going nuts - she is now croaky from all the moaning. I'd forgotten how nerve wracking and impractical this process is - laying hens need nest boxes!
The wild card that I'd forgotten about and haven’t tackled before is Linden the cock. He is rushing in to the others defence even though they are the aggressors and treating the newcomers like he treats me - the side shuffling has stopped, he is now launching himself at the wire. I’ve filed the points off his spurs.
What's the best way of doing this? Introduce them one at a time at roosting after swapping the gang into the partition? I will make the partition into a tunnel when they are out so there's always somewhere to run to with numerous food and water like before.
 
So yesterday evening they all went on the roost after it was dark. This morning started with a bit of chasing - didn’t seem to bad but when I was out for an hour Belle got her vent pecked. I think when she was laying an egg on the floor because she couldn’t get to the nests. Just a bit bruised and bleeding and even Bonnie was attracted by it so she is now in the partition on her own till it heals (washed with iodine solution.)
Bonnie was getting picked on a lot and it was escalating after a few hours until I noticed that it was Linden that was particularly being aggressive, the others joining in when he had pinned her down by her head (he is a quarter of her weight, I didn’t expect him to be so good at that.) As soon as I put him in his own partition it calmed right down to a bit of brief chasing.
So the day ends with the flock split in 3 - Aerial, Betty and Bonnie in the run and doing OK, Linden reflecting on the error of his ways and Belle on her own too but active and, I think, on the mend.
I need a beer!
 
What a nightmare! Linden and Co. must be thinking of joining UKIP, bloody immigrants. You've had an eventful week with them, Rick. This is the most difficult time of the year to introduce newbies, when all their breeding hormones are at the highest and it makes them more aggressive. I hope they settle soon (and that your g recovers.) Don't bother to cut and paste on here, it'll add to the entertainment if we have to work out what you mean.
 
Thanks Marold!
I'm feelin like a pretty lousy chicken keeper at the moment. This mornin I took Belle to the vet with a lare prolapse and came home without her. Whether the peckin/stress caused it or was the cause of it I don’t know.
I thouht about findin Bonnie a new friend from the flock she was with as its only been a week but it didn’t look promisin and cant handle any more complications at the moment. Bonnie seems robust enouh to cope, is layin and eatin and brushin off the scuffles while Linden is separate. Will try to brin him back into the main run once thins look settled with Aerial and Betty.
 
Oh dear, poor Belle - and poor you, your girls seem to be dropping at rather too fast a rate for comfort, especially as Belle was a special girl you hadn't had very long. Don't beat yourself up about it, though, Rick - they get fantastic care from you, and most of us have been through times when there seem to be multiple problems in our flocks. New introductions must seem to be major changes to the birds in an established flock, especially one with a cockerel, and things can be in turmoil for a while, but it sounds as if you've lost the bird who was at the bottom of the problems, through no fault of her own, and maybe it would be good to just let things settle down for a while, especially as you're going away fairly soon?
 
Rick, sorry about Belle. In all likelihood the prolapse was just a result of her physiology, some birds just aren't destined to make it I'm afraid. As Marigold says problems and deaths do have an uncanny knack behaving like buses, they all come a once. I lose a few birds every year, normally in pretty short order so I wouldn't give yourself a hard time. I also agree with Marigold that you should do yourself and the birds a favour and leave getting a replacement. Your problem when introducing birds is always going to be your lack of space for escape and therefore the longer you can leave it till you introduce the newcomers after they have arrived the better.

Linden will calm down in time, but you may want to ask yourself the question further down the line as to whether given your tight space, non rural location and lack of intention to breed whether he should remain in the flock. My opinion for what it is worth is that three birds is the optimum number for your setup given your space. Were I you, I would never be looking beyond four birds at the maximum.

Finally, your not a lousy keeper by any means.
 
Thank you very much folks - for the kind words and for the sound advice. Another problem with just enouh space in theory is that splitin it into sections makes it very difficult to move around, clean etc so there is a stron incentive to et past the separation phase and move on.
You are absolutely riht, of course, Dinosaw - except it would be possible to have one for breedin Nankins if I did that and, lets face it, I probably wont without switchin affection to the breed rather than the individual. Still, he's a little soldier and I'll find a way round the same as I will with Bonnie and the rest (who are in some disarray too and need thins to settle down.)
 
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