new boy coming for a week's trial

[mr darcy]

hohum, what could I do? my mate down the road has got five cockerells and is as daft as I am about culling so one smallish chap is arriving on weds, strictly adhering to a weeks trail, if he goes for me he'll be back in that cat basket quicker than you can say Mr Darcy

[Suechooks]

How nice to have that option Good luck

[mr darcy]

[QUOTE=Suechooks;606559]How nice to have that option Good luck[/QUOTE

it's the only option that my daughter (aged 12 and agressed by Mr Dar!!) gave our friend!!

[dexterdoglancashire]

That sounds a good idea. Do let us know how he gets on, with photos of course!

[frias]

How old is he? Might not show his true colours in only a week. I hope he is lovely but Mr Darcy wasn't aggressive at first was he? Sorry to be a bit negative but if you have lots of space I would make sure you have enough hens to keep the new boy well occupied!

[mr darcy]

How old is he? Might not show his true colours in only a week. I hope he is lovely but Mr Darcy wasn't aggressive at first was he? Sorry to be a bit negative but if you have lots of space I would make sure you have enough hens to keep the new boy well occupied!

the problem is that since the dog attack they'll have to remain penned, the pen is pretty good in size, it's about 35m squared for at present three hens, on weds when I pick the new boy up I should be picking up one more hen, from the same market trader that sold me Scarlet, Mr Darcy (then named Darcy Bussel) and Indie (the only reason am picking up this hen is that when I went last weds, the morning after Spike the dog ate Violette, he only had 'cou-nue' these are hens with bald necks and I am forbidden by my kids to buy them because they are ugly(personally I think this is discrimination and feel tempted to buy a dozen nude necks just to wind the kids up, but I think i'd better not be so childish...anyway, the chicken man enthusied about the lovely black pol and i feel bad about praps not showing up and about the hen sitting in a box all morning probably with her feet tied up.SOooooo...it will be four hens and one boy in that pen, with electric netted 'leisure pens' for them to change around in. The new boy is four monthes old approx, has been living with lots of hens and four other boys, has not shown any aggression to man or beast so far.
question 1) is my pen big enough?
2) how much trial should I give him then? will being penned make him horrid? he's been FR til now
3) I introduced Violette and then afterwards Biscuit and Gypsy by the cage in the run method all day and every night I caught them and put them all to bed together, for three nights til letting them loose together, should I do that with new boy too? or is it different with cocks? AND should I just lump him and new hen together as newbies, or seperate them too? advice please!!!

[Hilary B]

Introducing a single hen to a group tends to lead to bullying. A cockerel will soon sort out hens that try to bully him (usually!) It might work out that if he already knows the new hen before both are added to the group, he will protect her, as well as taking charge of the rest.......
Afraid in the end it is all guesswork. They are all different, all we can do is describe 'likely' situations.