New hen being bullied and miserable - what can I do?

[becklespeckle]

Hiya, I bought an eglu cube at the weekend and the lady selling it had re-homed all the hens but one which someone was supposed to be collecting from her. The person didn't turn up so the lady offered her to me and I brought her home Sunday. I popped her into my eglu with my 3 girls and all seemed fine until bedtime... the new hen (Crunchie) decided she wanted Brenda's spot and pushed her off... Brenda is last in the pecking order generally but the head hen (Gladys) was not impressed at all and they had a little skefuffle. Yesterday my girls wouldn't let Crunchie out of the eglu, Brenda was set to guard the door I let them roam the garden together and they ignored each other, Crunchie was lively and ate and drank fine.

Last night we put them away into the cube as we though there would be more room and perhaps Crunchie would feel better in a home she was more used to. This morning my 3 were still not letting Crunchie out the house so I have gave her food and water (both of which she has taken) and put her in the eglu on her own. After eating she took herself back into the house

I have them all out in the garden at the moment to try and get used to each other but the new hen is just standing there with her head under her wing looking really miserable.

What can I do to help her settle in? Should I keep her separate and let them range together for a week or so and hope they get used to each other? (They are only out of the run an hour or so a day though as there is a local fox) Will she get lonely in the eglu on her own? I was wondering about putting the 2nd in command chook (who has so far shown her no aggression) in with her in the eglu and then putting the 4 back together in a week or so...

Sorry for the long post but any advice would be appreciated!

Hopeful bump...

I'm interested in this too as we are hoping to get 2 new hens and was wondering when would be the best time and how to do it successfully.

Sorry I can't be any help to you though. Hope you get some responses.

Hi Scaryfairy, unfortunately my poor new hen died in the night last night , I feel very sad about it but wonder if there was perhaps something more wrong with her, she had had a few traumatic days before I was offered her I think and perhaps it all took it's toll. I feel very sad today.

However, the people on the Omlet forum gave me lots of good ideas for introducing new girls here and I thought that might be useful for you!

I have to say I will be thinking very carefully before introducing any new hens to the flock in the future though

Very sorry to hear about your poor chicken.

One of ours died on christmas day - they were my dd's Xmas pressie - even though we got them ages before Xmas. We don't know why she died. You get very attached to them, don't you?

Thanks for the tips - I'll have a read before we decide what to do.

I got talking to someone in the hairdressers last week and she reckons that there are some special red glasses (yes, glasses) you can get for chickens that clip onto their beak and stop them pecking the new chickens. I was very but she swears blind it works!!

Poor Crunchie & poor you beckle,it took my two new girls about a week to settle in with my one remaining chook,they were very small & were still cheeping,she hounded them,jumping on them & pecking their heads,they were petrified & I felt awful.We sectioned the run off in the day with some chicken wire & when Daphne(the old hen)had tootled off to bed at night,we popped the new girls in through the eggport,as they are more docile & chilled at night.they sorted it out eventually,but it was difficultnow they are never apart & the best of friends.
Hope to get a cube soon,so will have to go through it all again,but thats chooks for you!!
It sounds as if Crunchie was probably poorly when you got her,so don't blame yourself too much.

Thanks guys, I just feel so sad for her .

You do get very attached to them don't you Scaryfairy, it was hard enough to lose Crunchie, who I'd only had a couple of days, I'm dreading the day I lose one of the others.

I think you may be right chickensaresafehere, she may have been a bit poorly when I got her, I had noticed she was very docile and much lighter than my girls despite being a bit bigger than them so perhaps she had been off her food for a while or something, I don't know, still feel bad for her though.

I have to say it has put me off of getting any more just yet, my 3 are such a tight bunch (they are ex-batts so went through a lot together I guess) so I'm guessing introducing any more will be hard work. I just hope they won't get cold with just 3 of them in the cube, they have been sleeping in the nesting box rather than roosting properly! One of them still hasn't got the hang of the ladder yet either so I have to go into the run in the evening and put her in

Those glasses sound funny Daisymoo, I can just imagine them running about with them on!

I am sorry to hear about your hen dying, becklespeckle.

I am no expert on hens, but what I have read is to maybe get more than one new hen, and keep them in a separate enclosure/area for a few days. So they can all see each other and get used to each other too - I am not sure it would stop the pecking order thing, but it would help a bit.

I grew up with hens, but didn't have them for years, we only have three now (we had four, but one died).

I am thinking about increasing the flock, as our hens are getting a little elderly, and we are only getting 6 eggs a week now, we used to get 4 a day, but down to 1 through this hard winter.

I really mustn't lurk on this section

Good idea Cranreuch,the cube can house 6-10 girls depending on your run.

Thanks Cranreuch. I am thinking maybe we will get another 2 hens at some point - that was the original plan when we bought the cube. We only took the single hen on as the people supposed to take her didn't turn up - I felt sorry for her and didn't want her to spend another night in a box.

My 3 hens have also been down to one egg a day this winter, we were getting 3 in the summer, they don't like the cold at all! They are ex-batts so I guess they are not used to it!

I'm wondering if I can get away with putting some garden canes across the run to keep the hens separate (we have the 1m run extension on the cube chickensaresafehere) but put the feeders next to each other so they are feeding together but can't get at each other. Someone suggested a cat box for the new hens to sleep in to begin with too.

I lurked on this section for ages and ages before DH gave in I got my chooks Catinthehat2!

We used a cat carrier for the first few nights for our new girls,but made sure they had seperate glug & grub,as fights often broke out over food,little Hermione would spy her chance at the grub & dash over,furiously eating,then from out of nowhere big,bad Daphne would hurtle over & jump on her & launch a full scale attack
Are you going to get some more ex-batts beckle??Think we might go for some when we get our cube.Just got to save up the pennies!!!

I'm not sure yet Chickensaresafe, we might go for a couple of hybrids this time, DH (the man who proffesses not to like chickens) wants to get a Light Sussex as he thinks they look nice and who am I to argue with him when it comes to getting more chickens?! If anything happens to my ex-batts though I will definitely replace them with more ex-batts, they're lovely birds and it makes me so sad to think of the life they have lived before they are adopted

at Catinthehat2, is there no way you can wangle getting some? You really don't need much space!

I know,it must be lovely to see them flap their wings & run around,aaahhh the freedom.We really need to put a stop to battery hen farming,but I do not think it will happen,alot of people just see chickens as mass produced birds bred for our convenience,not the lovable,full of personality girls that we love!!!

Its amazing how quickly they learn to be 'real' chickens, their instincts are so strong! They knew to roost and where to lay and where to eat and drink from although it was all obviously so different - they'd never even seen daylight or grass before!

I agree that battery hen farming needs to stop but while people continue to buy their eggs it'll carry on happening. Its daft too as they battery eggs are not loads cheaper, its only about 50p per 6 eggs less .