Why won't they come out?

[Anonymous]

Well, my girls arrived yesterday and seemed to get the hang of things pretty quickly. Two of the hens came out of the house after a few hours and walked about in the run until bed time. One found the nest box and thought that looked like a safer option and stayed there all afternoon!

This morning, they don't seem to want to come out of the house. In fact, all three of them are now in the next box!! It is only their first morning, and being ex-batts I know that it will take some time for them to adjust, but should I try and make them come out of the house at some point today?

I am also worried about them eating and drinking. I only saw one have a drink and something to eat yesterday. I have placed feeders and drinkers in the house and in the run.

Any top tips on making sure they are all happy on Day Two would be gratefully received!

Oh, by the way - they laid their first egg this morning, so I guess they can't be too upset with moving to my garden!!

Helen

 

[peter wade]

hi as ex-batts they are used to drinking from nipple drinkers a couple of my friends who keep them found that they had to show them where to drink until they knew as for coming out they scattered corn outside near house they don't take long to venture out

 

[Tallulah]

Hi Helen

I re-homed 5 ex-batts at the end of May and was obviously lucky as mine were raring to go right from the start although I was prepared for behaviour like your chooks are displaying. I'm sure they will adjust to their new lives very quickly - must be such a shock after being enclosed in a battery pen. My girls had to learn to perch and to shelter from the rain, so they do get there eventually. I have had so much enjoyment from them and love to see how they embrace their new found freedom. At the moment they are sunbathing and look like they have crash landed!!

Enjoy your girls and well done for re-homing some more special ladies

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your replies.

Molly has now found her way out of the coop and seems to be doing well - she needed a bit of encouragement to go back in mind you! It has only been a few days, but already they are displaying such great behaviour - pecking and scratching about, and they've even learnt to roost on the perches in the coop and have been using the nest box to lay since day one! They really are amazing and have even been eating corn from my hand today!

I am really looking forward to letting them run about in the garden, but for the first week or so I think I will just let them get used to the enclosure that the coop sits in. Hopefully it won't be long before they are fully feathered and back in good health! It has been amazing watching them learn to be hens again!

I might even be tempted to rescue a few more!