Just a quick hello.....

[Smoggy67]

Hiya all,

Just want to say a big thank you for all your unwitting help via the site.
Have been using it for months but finally took the plunge and joined!

The help and confidence it has gave me with regard my chooks has been invaluable, who'd have thought a few chooks could raise so many potential scares eh..

Anyways, Im Dave and am currently living in Lincolnshire very happily with Jo (the boss) and our 3 kids... We moved house a short time ago, to a bungalow with a very very large garden and that is when all this obsession with chooks and veggies started ..lol

My first four (ex batteries) have been with me 10 weeks and are settled and happy (laying daily), however they absolutely mullered the others when i introduced them - causing me to remove them for their own safety - I know you suggest moving the bully, but I had no idea who lead the assault and it was very extreme.

The four new ones were all attacked, one died and the other three had head wounds - i cleaned the wounds daily and thankfully theyare settling in with the rabbits til I get my new coop on wednesday... Does anyone know what breed these are?

My rabbits are bella and chai who are very much inseperable, shes the boss and he does as he's told - bit like me and Jo really..

Oops turning into an essay, over and out for now..

SMOG

[Bramble-Poultry]

Hi welcome to the vine - that is extreme attack on birds, usually you get a little bit if pecking until it settles but adding more that one at a time is usually better!

If they are ex batts they are no particular breed they are hybrids, used because they autosex so male chicks can be gassed at day old only rearing the girlies. There are several different hybrids and they all look the same it depends on where they were bred - basically they are just wee brown hen!!

You rabbit looks like mine!

[Eco-Chic]

Hi Dave,

I'm new to chooks too, so I can't help identify yours, but one of the experts will be along soon to reveal all. They all look in fine fettle though and your rabbits are gorgeous.

My introduction to chooks has had a downside too, I wasn't careful enough and my dogs killed one of my girls. I was concerned about foxes but didn't give sufficient consideration to the 'predators within'.

[Eco-Chic]

Bramble-Poultry, what is auto-sexing? Can it be done to all breeds or just hybrids?

[Smoggy67]

Mmmmm

Hi again, I meant the other 3 - sorry I never clarified that..

Thanks for reassurance and welcome guys - best forum ever with the kindest users.

SEE PIC OF 3 UNIDENTIFIED...

[di]

Sorry...not much use at identifying them but wanted to say Hello & Welcome!
Very pretty whatever they are...just sorry it was such a nightmare trying to introduce them to the others...Our main girls really can be quite nasty...after we had a broody we just didn't dare leave her with them,I think they relly would have killed her,so like you we now have two main runs.(and a boy run & a broody run!)

Eco Chic...auto~sexing is when two breeds are initially bred so that the boys & girls can be told apart from day old.Not sure of all the science behind it but no,it doesn't work with all breeds.Once the auto sexed breed is perfected it can then be bred & male offspring will be a different colour to female.

[Flummery]

Hi - welcome to Chucksville! I don't know what your newer chickens are, sorry - but aren't they lovely. You've had a case of Extreme Bullying there.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Eco chick - yes its hybrids that are auto sexing as a general rule but some of these hybrids are now breeds in their own right such as the cream legbar and silver dorking but technically they are hybrids. An autosexing chick is where you can tell the instant it hatches whether its a boy or a girl sometimes it is a pattern thing such as with cream legbars other times its a colour thing where girls and boys are totally different colours. from a comercial point of veiw great because the girls can be raised for the egg trade and the boys can be culled instantly for the exotic pet trade.

Smoggy - difficult to identify cos I don't recognise them, what were they sold to you as, one is quite reminiscent of a black rock we used to have but not quite! Someone else will probably know and totally disagree with me :P

[Smoggy67]

Cheers gals and guys,

Bramble - they were sold as a mixed batch..lol Think personally they're hybrids of some sort, or as my missus calls them bitsas..bits of this and bits of that..lol

Eco and Di, bullying is one tihng but like you said thiswas extreme.. I was lucky to save 3...lesson learnt now though and have a wooden shed thing coming on wednesday which i am going to convert so theyre all together but seperated if you know what i mean... the two runs they have are side by side and they dont seem to be bothered by each other now, but really reluctant to reintroduce fully in case we get a replay...

Smog

[Eco-Chic]

Smoggy,

Pet apartheid is a nuisance isn't it? We have to keep my sister's staffyxGS separate from sis's dominant JR and my dominant dog. Indy is fine with our subordinate dogs but has become more and more dog aggressive as she gets older so she's always muzzled and kept on the lead out of the house. Beautiful dog with people though.

[bluemoon]

Hi, Smoggy. Welcome. We bought 3 Rhodies and 2 Gold-Tops at 8 weeks old, raised them to POL then put the Goldies in with a Cuckoo Marans cockerel, they were fine and the two groups are still happy to free-range together. Later we got a young Rhodie cockerel to keep the Rhodie girls company and wondered if they would then have to be kept apart, but Elvis (the marans) is more than happy to have the younger cockerel around. The problem comes from the smallest and cutest Goldie who is truly EVIL and bullies the new boy terribly. We only allow the two groups together when we are there to keep a close eye on them, and they have separate houses and runs, but I'm going to persevere in allowing them to range together when possible. Her attacks are nothing like the extreme ones you've suffered though, she just shrieks and chases him. (and he has longer legs and is faster than she is) It's always the sweet little ones who are the worst!

[ginger ninger]

Hi smoggy and welcome to the vine.

[Smoggy67]

Another try goes wrong!!

Buzzed up after your warm welcome, so I decided I would let both groups out together to see if they'd adapted yet - got daughters out to act as bouncers and let the new 3 out first - opened up ex batts run to let them out and then it all went pete tong!

One of the little 3 darted into the exbatts run before they were out, two of them were on it like a shot - i seperated them and chased the ex batts out into the garden, problem over i thought... oh no...

One of the new ones - the little blacker one, was defo harbouring a grudge against the batts and attacked one full on - good on yer i thought at first, until the batts cornered her and she had to be rescued.... Back in seperate runs.....

Although heartless, the new 3 are going back into market thursday and i'll buy another half dozen bigger sized birds who can hold their own in new coop...

Reasons for this:

Really lucky to have livestock and miscellaneous market every thursday on my doorstep practically..

I'm in it for the eggs and the enjoyment they bring predominantly, and these chooks are never gonna mix..

Missus told me i have to get rid of one group - ex batts lay daily, other never laid... decision made

Oh well, at least they can stay happy for another few days yet, and i'll choose more carefully this time...

[di]

Sorry it's all gone so pear shaped!I really can't offer any advice to rty and make things work out...I'm the Wuss that made Andi build a new run so as Marigold didn't have to suffer at the beaks of the ISA's!
One thing we have found is that colour seems to play a huge part in which chooks are accepted & which aren't....not sure if it's the same with others experiences?
Our ISA's...bog standard brown hybrid....never accepted Marigold(black hen)& after she'd been broody it got as bad as you're descibing with yours.Now that the chicks are nearly as big as the grown ups,we've been letting them free range together.The Buff Orpingtons are pretty much ignored,the cream legbars(grey)are tolerated,but as soon as one of the Norfolk Greys(black)comes out all hell breaks loose!
So I guess,if you are going to start again,that you maybe choose birds of a similar colouring to your ex~bats.Also...Marigold is a huge chook...probably twice the weight of the bullies,so I'm not sure that size necessarily makes that muich difference.

[Snadger]

Hi Smoggy (not originally form Middlesborough are you?)

The fierce chooks look like they have a bit of Shamo or Indian game in them.
These were bred for cockfighting at one time so could account for them being fighters!

Good luck with the integration.