Uh Oh, introducing stranger not going well.

[Lucylou]

Hello everyone! 99

Months ago I asked about introducing 2 'old' girls to my group of 3 'old' girls. Cut a long story short this didn't go ahead till last weekend when I was called upon to keep my promise but only 1 old girl needed a home now.

So we collected the pensioner (a French Faverolle) in the evening & popped her into the coop alongside the others. So far so good as they were all sleepy. Come the morning, mine all came out as usual but the French Fancy did not want to leave under any circumstances & unlike mine she doesn't like being held or lifted & its almost impossible to grab her. Mine were totally oblivious of any 'intruder' until the FF started to gain confidence & 'chatting' to me whereupon world war 3 broke out (well that's how it seemed 07 ) with 1 actually flying into the coop to get at her.

After this I decided I needed to go to plan B & sub-divided the run. Mine are still parading the perimeter like sentries, with the odd peck through the trellis, she's not happy her side also walking the boundry, she's not eating much & won't go into her coop at night. Since Sunday we've found her in the dark perching on the edge of a piece of wood that's forming part of her 'pen' instead of going into the coop.

Can anyone give me any clues on 1) how can I get her to go to bed at night? We have been moving her in at night but as she's so difficult to handle we're worried she'll damage a wing if we put her in through the pop hole so we open the lid. She comes out on her own in the morning.
2) Is this expected behaviour? I didn't have this trouble when I introduced 2 pullets once before.
& 3) How do I tell when its time to let them all in together?

One last spanner in the plan is that our never ending house move saga is about to happen (at last with everything crossed) in a months time so then they will all have to move, can anyone give me any clues on this? Will it all go back to square one?.

Thanks x

 

[dinosaw]

Oh dear Lucylou, probably the worst scenario possible when introducing chickens is to put a single hen into an existing group, especially without a period of separation for them to become accustomed to each other, so to answer question 2 this is absolutely to be expected.

With regards to getting her into the coop at night, firstly can I ask if the piece of wood she is perching on is higher than the coop?, chickens will perch as high as possible until they class the house as their home and you often need to make it impossible for them to roost anywhere other than the coop before they get the message, sometimes they never do, I had one hen who I spent 6 months physically putting in her coop every night before I gave up, she spent the next couple of years in the rafters of the run and was perfectly happy, she would take herself into the house for a couple of the colder days when moulting and then go back to her favoured spot so she knew exactly what she was doing.
Is your run secure?, if so I would leave her be until you can build up some trust, she has been through a very stressful period, not only moving home but being attacked which will explain her unhappiness. If the run isn't secure, wait until at least one hour after it gets dark to pick her up and put her in the coop, she will be more docile and easier to handle then, hold both wings firmly and push her through the pop hole.

You need to wait at least 2 weeks before you reintroduce her to the others for quarantine reasons as she could pass on disease to your existing birds, I would wait until you move to put them together as being on new territory will put her at less of a disadvantage. When you reintroduce her it won't be pretty, unfortunately she will likely never be accepted properly by the others, you will have a period where they will chase her, guard the feeders and not allow her into the house at night, you will need to provide extra feeders and drinkers so she can eat and hopefully enough space for her to escape attack, eventually it will settle down to low level harassment and bullying.
Hate to be so gloomy but having done this myself before it's only fair that you are prepared for the likely outcomes. Best of luck with her and of course with your move.

Edit: I wrote this at 11.15 our time and was quite tired, have reread it and hope it doesn't come across as being terse Lucylou, it certainly wasn't my intention to be

 

[Lucylou]

Hi dinosaw,
Thank you for your advice. Yes, the perch is higher than her coop so I'll make it out of bounds tonight never thought of that! It is secure & I've made as big an exclusion zone as I can.

My old 3 birds have a very definite pecking order with varying degrees of bullying the one at the bottom. I was surprised all 3 turned on the new one with the lowliest almost the worst offender!! Sadly for the French Fancy (called Candy but she's the French Fancy to us now !!) this is her 3rd home as she was the only survivor after an attack which is why she joined the local school's flock (which is where she's come from). And again, she was only 1 going into quite a large group & it was moderately OK but there was a cockerel & they were silkies, don't know if that makes any difference?

My OH is good at holding them (larger hands I suppose !) but even he can't hold her, she's very feisty & somehow just manages to get those wings out of his grasp but I think she's starting to calm down a bit as she's started to 'talk' to me & took a couple of strawberries from me this morning(nothing like bribery!)

Once we're settled in the new house I'm planning on getting a few young pullets so that might even out the ratio a bit.

 

[dinosaw]

Funnily enough the larger the group the less the problems seem to be, more anonymity I think and depending on the cockerel they do sometimes step in to stop the worst of the bullying. It is par for the course for the bottom bird to be the most vicious as it is her place in the pecking order that is threatened. Poor girl, she has been through a lot, if she doesn't want to go in the house by herself (and you may find she now decides to roost on top of it when you cordon off her current perching spot) you would probably be best leaving her to it for a while, she will be perfectly ok. Sometimes what you can do to entice them in is to shine a torch into the coop itself so it is lighter inside than it is outside and they follow the light, have to say I have had mixed results with this though.

 

[Marigold]

When picking her up, do you try to hold her over her wings with two hands, or hold her by the legs?
Slide your hand under her tummy from back towards her head, and slip one finger between her legs to cushion them and the others spread out round her legs and grasped gently but very firmly. If you can stop her legs from flailing and scratching, you can then wrap your other arm over her wings and the other hand round her chest, then lift her up and she will settle in your arms. So long as you have her legs held she can't scratch you, and with her wings under your arm she can't flap. Hens seem to find this quite soothing. If she's in lay you can start by putting a hand over her back so she crouches and then its easy to get her legs.
If you try to pick in a hen with two hands over her wings from above she's sure to panic and you may be badly scratched.

 

[3441sussex]

My OH is good at holding them (larger hands I suppose !) but even he can't hold her, she's very feisty & somehow just manages to get those wings out of his grasp

She is probably upset and feisty because she does not like being caught and held by the wings.

If you need to catch a chicken that is not used to be handled it should be held securely in an upright position in the crook of your arm with the legs held by your hand. If you hold it in this way it cannot move and you cannot damage its wings or legs.

I should just leave her alone and hopefully she will settle down. I introduce youngsters to my hens by keeping them in a chicken house and run within the main run for a couple of weeks and then let them out with two or three feeders and drinkers. I have just mixed my 7 laying hens with 4 Ixworth and Le Bresse aged 10 weeks and 3 Araucanas aged 12 weeks. They worked out the pecking order within a day or two and there have been no problems. They all roost in separate houses still, but are not shut in at night because my main run is protected by an electric poultry fence.

 

[3441sussex]

Take Marigold’s advice on how to hold a chicken. A far better description of the process than mine!

 

[Margaid]

I've always picked them up by sliding my hand under the breast towards the legs, then sliding my fingers around their legs. This means the breast is on your forearm so you can hold the hen against you, which controls one wing, and you can then use the other arm/hand to stop the other wing flapping. i did this having to chase a new hen around the field and was actually able to stroke her with my free hand. (if you want the full hilarious story search for "Oh Boy! Did I get that all wrong!" )

 

[Lucylou]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. We usually hold ours by putting our hands round the whole bird, with the actual palms over the wings but our old ones are used to this & 2 of them are smaller so this is quite easy. Your way Marigold seems much better, I presume you mean with the head facing behind you. We'll give that a go!

She's a little more settled & eating quite well now so that's something. Desperate to get out though as she is used to free ranging, the last 2 chooks of the flock the village school had, used to have the run of the grounds all day, never mind, when we move she'll be able to have more freedom.