Well the girls are home! Not in too bad a condition either, there's only one with feather lose at her tail end, but I think she might have doing it her self
We got back earlier than expected, so covering the kitchen floor with newspaper we thought we would let them out to try and tempt them with a little food and water.
The baldy tailed one only seemed interested in pecking and eating the feathers off the others , what on earth do I do about that????????
Also one has a limp
We met Alex and Annie there and they are lovely people Hope your girls are OK
Well I am exhausted and cant wait to do to bed , didn't get to sleep last night as I was so excited, and I think im going to have a busy day tomorrow trying to stop 'The Unnamed One' from stripping all the girls of their feathers !
They may be a little upset with the move etc, and thats why one is pecking, I am not sure why, I have heard that some ladies have limps, could have banged it or been pulled at some point, when they were being freed keep an eye on it and someone will always be here to help.
Chi Chi, Glad your girls are safely back with you. Having been in cages and then taken out and transported, some will have got a bit battered and bruised so may develope limps etc. They will need time to settle, recover and repair themselves. As they are unlikely to have been in a proper flock it will take a while for them to settle and some may have the odd anti social habit as they are used to being on top of each other and when they get stressed just have a go at each other. Once they are in the run with space to move around and get out of each others' way they will start to behave like a flock. If there is one who is pecking feathers I would seperate her from the others, maybe with another that she doesn't bully to knock her down a bit. If she is eating the feathers she is pecking she may be lacking protein so meal worms or chick peas could help give her what she needs so that she leaves the others alone. Hope that's some help. Dom
Hi Chi Chi we got home with plenty of daylight to spare so took Wendys advice and put them in the coop with the door open. They had to be encouraged to come out but seemed ok ,we have a skinny ginger one, a titchy dark one and an inbetweeny ! Will observe them more tomorrow. Glad we met ,thanks for the kind words........all a bit of a rush wasn't it ?
It will be alright in the end , if its not alright, it isn't the end . Quote from the proprietor of the The best exotic Marigold Hotel for the elderly and beautiful
Well done for saving some lovely ladies. I'm sure they will come good and start behaving themselves once they have found their feet. Sleep well and be prepared to spend the next few weeks in the garden
I really don't see that this is problems yet ChiChi ...so don't panic
They need time..they have been through a lot in the last day...dragged out of the battery, stuffed into boxes, transported to somewhere else where they are removed from the boxes, transported again...and now they are with people they have never clapped eyes on before. Add to that they are no longer in their controlled environment, squished into a cage, with artificial lighting and the sound of thousands of other hens doing their thing whilst trying to survive the tiny space they have to survive in......
I think at the moment the best thing is to leave them be and get on with things find out things for themselves...... I know the temptation is to want to show them what a wonderful life you are going to give them .....they will know this eventually but at the moment they are probably in shock / information overload...freedom is a different experience for them at the moment they don't realise their hell is over (they probably think it's just a continuation of the horrors they have been through already...).
They will get that freedom is a good thing but at the moment they just need to process every thing that's going on and suss out their environment, then they need to sort out a pecking order...and they do need to sort it. Hens don't sit down and have chats/ make laws... they have a hierarchy where the one who can peck the hardest is in control and it ripples down to the bottom so the bottom of the pecking order does get put in their place the most....the only time you need to intervene is if there is ganging up, holding down or blood drawn..the rest (whilst it sometimes isn't pretty) is essential for them and it's how they do things....we don't always understand their culture but it's what they do.
Please don't stress just give them time and hopefully they will soon be living in peace together....just keep telling us how they are and what they are doing and if problems arise then we'll help anyway we can
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda
Living our version of the Good Life with 1 dog (who feels like we're living with 4!), 1 cats, a few sheep and 11 chooks. Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
It is early days, Chi Chi, they will settle into a routine. You imagine been taken from what you are used to saying day in day out, chucked in with a whole load of strangers, who you might not initially see eye to eye with. How would you react? They need to develop their pecking order.
Ive just introduced 3 Point-of-Lay to 2 hens I've had for 2 years. Fortunately They have a big (moveable) run, which helps as most of the time they can ignore each other and go around in 2 groups. When I feed them I see the pecking order in action. I gave them an extra bowl of feed as well as the hopper, but Willemina still tries to chase the new ones away from both. So I make sure there is plenty so that they can get some after the bosses have eaten.
So that is the key - space and making sure they all feed. Thinking about space, I don't know if anyone else has said, but don't free range them for a couple of days. Let them get used to going in and out between of their coup and run, so that they know where 'home' is. Then give them half an hour before dusk when they are already thinking about bed, open the door and let the boldest one find it if it wants to. Then they will explore, but stay close to home, and put themselves to bed. If you shoo them out too early they will be thoughroughly (sp???) confused and you will have a stressful time getting them back. I've just bewildered my new hens, they were on the lawn for a month but now the pears are picked so I move the run and arc back into the orchard. They followed me (and the food tub) happily and went in and began scratching about, but when I went to shut them in for the night 2 were standing under a tree looking confused and I had to lift them into the run.
Are they up yet? If you haven't already don't shoo them out of their house, open the door and let them find their way - then they know where to roost. And enjoy your day watching them (from a distance)
It was a bit of a rush wasn't it Anni, need to grab a coffee sometime
Thanks for all the advice and I have read over it all carefully.
It is expected that they will be battered and bruised mentally and physically. Just didn't know they eat feathers, bit of a shock that one, stuffing them down she was
She seems fine this morning (no pecking so far) , all getting there first taste of freedom and not too much noise from the original girls.
The one with a limp, is having problems standing up now, I think she has bruised her foot travelling. So I will just keep an eye on here for now.
I know there pale and unsure just now, but god there are beautiful
Glad all is well this morning, have you any arnica cream, that will help soothe and bring any bruising out, keep an eye on her, pictures a must of course,
Glad they have settled a bit today - I don know how you felt as after one introduction of new chooks, I actually wondered what on earth I had done for a few days and got very worried. It really does usually sort itself out though, in time.
Oh yes, and piccies too please! (not that we're nagging!)
Soglad things seem more settled, and well done you. when I got my last hens I was tempted to take them back but it all settled down and I love them to bits. They have to sort things out for themselves and sometimes you may not agree, as I certainly didnt, but it all turns out ok in the end to you Maz
Hope your girls are OK 
keep an eye on it and someone will always be here to help.
