Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Thriftkitten

Jenny_Wren wrote: »

Advice required please!
I have 3 x 3 year old hens and a week and a half a go got 3 x POL chickens. I separated the run for them so they could all see/ hear each other and lifted them into the house with the others at night, putting them in their own run in the morning. For the last 4 days I have let them free range together where they mainly ignored each other apart from a bit of chasing. Yesterday I removed the wire that separated them and left them to it. But ... the new girls won't come out of the house because the old girls won't let them, apart from when I opened the door to the run and let them all out into the garden.
One hen was being especially aggressive so I have put her in a dog crate on her own for a few days as I've read that can help.
What more can I/ should I do? This is way harder than I expected!

I sit with a cuppa a couple of times a day armed with a water pistol for the bully...usually does the trick, as long as they don't draw blood it should sort itself out, are they all the same size hens or hens and bantams, sometimes the bantams get picked on by the big girls

Jenny_Wren_3

It took a while but they're all ok now, the bully will still pick on the most submissive now and then but its just a quick peck to make her move. They are around the same size, two of the newbies (inc the submissive one) are leghorn hybrids so slightly smaller.

k66yla

I picked up 4 POL on Friday. A fox killed my 3 girls back in December. The garden just has'nt been the same since then, so gave the coop a spruce up and decided to try again. We've had 1 egg a day so far off one of them, many more to follow hopefully

Gigervamp

Looks like a sussex and a warren. What are the two black girls?

k66yla

The grey is a Mendlesham Ranger, black is a Fenning Black, white is Fenning Sussex and brown a Suffolk Blacktail. Have just eaten one of the eggs for the first time and it was a double yoker

mollythewestie

We are just about to move to the countryside from the city, and DH is adamant that he wants to keep some chickens once we're settled. However we know nothing about chickens AT ALL.

So I was wondering if you knowledgeable lot could recommend any books on keeping chickens for absolute beginners like us?

Thanks in advance!

caitybabes

Congrats on the new girls k66yla!

Mollythewestie, before we got our chickens, I read two books: Backyard chickens and other poultry, and the Green Guides book Keeping Chickens.

Found it very useful, read them both front to back within a week as I was very excited about getting chickens!

Syman

Look for the Haynes chicken keeping book(the same publisher of the car manuals)
Also chickens as pets by Andrew Hinkinson.

Both available from Amazon.

Mockingjay

I have 6 ex bats and they are flipping adorable. I get 4 or 5 eggs a day, a lot of these end up with friends/neighbours/coworkers.

If you're tempted...get some! And ideally, get ex bats. They are so friendly and seeing them change from sad looking baldies into big ol' fluffy balls is fantastic!

Mojisola

Holidays - cat to be looked after by neighbour, dog off to the kennels, chickens to Fowlty Towers!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408915/Fowlty-Towers-Poultry-resort-opens-meet-boom-chicken-keeping.html