New girls are real chickens! lol

[sheena]

Righty-o, I am coming to the end of my tether.

My neighbour decided she was going to move and not take her girl's with her, I however placed them in with my girl's. Had done this on a previous attempt but the row they were making all day long made it nigh on impossible (this was during the winter months).

So.. I placed them in there at midnight on Friday having heard that if you place them during the night that things should settle down within a day or 2.

Saturday morning I was awoken at 6am by a lot of buk buking cos my girl's were so emotional that these 2 new girl's were in their domain.
The new girl's spent the whole of the day in the house unless my girl's wanted to go and lay an egg. Then went and rested on the perch outside until the coast was clear for them to go back in.

This seems to be a reoccurring pattern since then, every time they venture to the floor for food or water, my girl's are beating them up to the point that they don't bother trying to go back down again.

Sunday night I thought it can't be good for the new girl's not to be eating or drinking especially with the warm snap we had over the weekend and locked my girl's away at dusk and put the 2 new girl's in the run to enjoy some food and water. They scavenged away quite happily until they were ready for bed, when I placed them back in the house. (I'll get told off for giving special treatment, but they needed to drink at least)

So here we are on day 4 in the Big Chook House and so far peace talks have failed in every direction possible. I have even tried closing off the house after eggs have been laid so they will inter mingle. Didn't work!

My other problem, is the new girl's had apparently not laid an egg in months, no moulting or any other reason for them not to lay, but since I have rehomed them, I have noticed a broken egg daily. I assumed this was maybe a soft shelled egg or had been trampled, but today when I went to collect the eggs I found a yet another eggy nest box and a new girl made a run at the egg I had just collected and attacked it.

My conclusion is the reason the new girl's hadn't laid is cos they had been eating them, but now I am not only trying to resume peace in the BCH but stop the cannibalism within the camp.

I have a plastic egg with a hole in, which I have placed in the nest box with the smallest amount of curry powder (don't have any mustard powder) in hope that this will deter them.

How long do you think it will take for the new girl's to settle in (or my girl's to give in), and am I doing the right thing with the egg eating?

[BUFFS]

you can never tell how long it takes,put two bluebelles in and it took a month,put two rhoderocks in and it took a few hours,put two speckledies and a sussex in and it took two days,i now keep mine busy with carrots and greens suspended just out of reach,they happily spent hours jumping up at them and ignoring the newbies,by the time they stopped,i think they were too tired to be aggressive,just dont let them get bored,that seems to be when they start bullying.i put the last three in last monday and they are all asleep,basking in the sun now,all huddled together...best of luck with it...

[RichmondHens]

Normally I would say stick with it, they will all settle eventually, some take longer than others, but if you have an egg eater among the newbies you don't want her to teach yours how to do it. I think your neighbour was a bit naughty. You can tell if eggs are being eaten just by the damp patches left behind, and if you attend to the chickens regularly you usually catch one or other at it at some point. If the new girls are both egg eating then I would suggest separating them from yours asap. If you cannot do this then you could try the mustard egg route and see how you get on. Other than that the next possibility is fitting a roll away nest box.

[sheena]

Cheers for the advice, looks like it's deffo one of the new girls who is the phantom egg eater.

No sooner had one of my girls laid the egg (to the point where it was still wet) the "bint" that she now known as was in the nest box and trying to get to the egg whilst my girl was still recovering from laying. Literally forced her off the egg and attacked it. Luckily enough I got to it before she did, but she seems to know which one is the real egg and not go for the dummy egg which was right next to it.

[MaureenHall]

Try filling a real (empty) egg shell with mustard and glue it back together. she'll get a shock when she breaks into that

[Snadger]

I have exactly the same problem!

I took the six chooks I had in the greenhouse and who were laying an egg a day and put them in their new chook house and run.
I then added 2 chooks from one flock and another two from another flock, as the size of the run will easily accomodate 10.

I've been having broken and eaten eggs galore in the nestboxes since I 'merged' them!

Because they are ISA's I cant' tell the difference so my idea is to take one at a time and put it in solitary. If the others haven't learned from her I will eventually find the scroat and wring her neck!

[Glutton4...]

I bought roll-away inserts and that stopped the majority of the egg-eating. I then had a great tip from, of all places 'The Haynes' Chicken Manual!' Strips of black plastic, like streamers, hanging down over the front entrance gap of each nest-box. This is supposed to help keep the resident Hen secluded, and the box darker, which they like. It also stops opportunist eaters poking their heads in. I pull a little bedding to the front of each nest-box, and wedge a fake egg in the front corner. That way, if one sticks her head in and has a peck, all she'll get is the plastic/rubber one, and give up. So far so good.

Good luck!

[sheena]

Haynes Chicken Manual?? Whatever next? I dare to ask if they have a duck manual! lol

Well after this mornings shananigans I went out and got some mustard after all the egg laying had been done. Managed to get 4 eggs from 5 girl's which isn't unusual (Wonky was having a day off I think) but I did get a very small one from one of the new girl's. Can't tell if it was the same one who is eating the eggs, but I did congratulate her on her efforts.

Apparently when my neighbour had them, they hadn't laid a single egg in months (last time was sept/oct), think it was due to lack of sunlight from where she had them situated - between a shed and a brick wall, with a wooden roof over the top and about 2ft of roof space for light.
Maybe that's why they like to stay in the house so much, cos they are obviously not used to so much light?

[Glutton4...]

They were probably laying and eating the eggs. Did she feed them? Sounds like she couldn't be bothered with them, so probably wasn't feeding them correctly. That, or they were bored. Chickens aren't stupid, they need stimulation like any animal. I'm glad she gave them to you, at least they'll get some attention now.

I read somewhere on here about spraying them all with a water and vinegar mix, so they all smell the same, and there should be less aggro! Worth a try anyway.

[sheena]

Let's just say that she gave me a half full bag of food which BBE date is 06/10 and only having to feed 2 chickens with it. I go through a whole bag in a month feeding my 5 and my latest one is BBE 09/10 and mine get scraps aswell! So draw your own conclusion on that one. Me and my hubby think not, for being year old's they are much smaller than my year old's but I don't know if it's the breed.

I don't even know what breed they are but they are deffo different from mine. I'll take a pic later on and maybe someone can tell me.

They seemed to quietened down in the mornings now, only get the groaning rather than the buk buk's, but that is usually due to newbie's standing in the doorway of the house whilst one of my girl's is trying to lay. Still happening at 6.30 but a small amount of noise is acceptable and it seems that all my neighbours haven't been bothered by them!

Which surprises me, I don't know if you remember last year when I first got them, someone had complained to my HA about them and I had a fight on my hands to keep them. Well, at the mo it seems that it was the neighbour I thought it were. God I hate hypocrit's!

[sheena]

The 2 on the perch are the newbie's

On the ladder - Left is ex-batt and on the right is one of year old's.

Oh and I have just got to update you on the state of their old home!!! I almost died and have been more thankful of the early morning wake up calls even more so because of it!

Went and had a nose in the neighbours old garden and thought I would check the hen house for any signs of broken/eaten eggs, well you could of knock em down with a feather.

For only having 2 chickens, I don't know how long it had been since they were last cleaned out. The nest box was full of poop and there was so much of it, it was piled at least 2 inches high and growing mould on the top.

At least they are going to be well looked after now, I spend no less than 2 hours with my girls throughout the day... most of the time just watching them cos they are just so fascinating.

[Flummery]

Those chickens have landed on their feet alright. It's shocking the state people will let their animals live in. Well done for rehoming them.

[lettucegrow!]

Thank goodness they've come to live with you, they are very fortunate chickens. Why do people bother if they can't keep up the care.
Glad to hear they are settling now. Mine have taken about 5 weeks and I had to resort to that 'orrible ant-peck spray. It did do the trick in the end but it isn't very nice.

[BUFFS]

to lettucegrow,dont buy sprays,put some malt vinegar in a hand pump sprayer,and just give the bully a couple of squirts,i was put onto this and only had to do it occasionally,one bird,she bullied the newbies nonstop for weeks,squirted her each time i caught her being aggressive,couple of days and no bullying..it works and only costs pennies..

[sheena]

Thankfully (touching wood as I type, when either hand is free of course) the pecking order has been established.

From the day they arrived they had been having me up at around 6.30 every morning. Yesterday, it was 7am before they woke me with any noise and today... well... 8.30am!!

The think is now, I miss my early wake up calls as it was the only time I get to go on the computer before the kid's start nagging me for it!

Extra good news too, i'm not sure if both new girl's are laying but I know for deffo one of them has been laying for the past 5 days now. We still got a thief in the camp who keeps trying to nab the eggs, but even that is a bit of hit and miss.
A couple of days ago I rearranged the house and placed an extra nest box (an old drawer from a bedside cabinet), but one of the silly girl's haven't gotten used to it yet and still lay in the old nesting box place. This seems to the only egg that is getting attacked at the mo, so might move it around again tomorrow if she does it again.

I'm only spose to be holding the new girl's until a responsible friend has gotten a home ready for them. But I hate to say it, I'm gonna miss em when they go... but secretly hoping that they do let me down and they can stay. Even hubby is getting attached to the new girl's now, as they are much friendlier than our own girl's and demand fussing upon every visit we make to them during the day for egg run and feeding (around 10 times a day) - just realised how spoilt they are!! lol