New Hens - is there a problem?

[TPeers]

As several of you know I got two new hens yesterday - I have a few questions I would like some help with and hopefully you will come up with different answers to mine.......

Both hens seem scared of the open space of the run, they come out only for food......

As far as I can tell, neither know how to perch....

They seem to have difficulty working out how to drink from the drinker and scratch at the feeder to knock the food out but don't seem to peck around to get that food....

Neither of them has any idea what to do with corn!

The two hybrids were confident, outgoing, inquisitive birds into everything and chat to me when ever I go out. The new two chat to the old two but fall silent for a while after I go out - often retreating to the coop.

Have they been abused in some way? Or am I just touchy seeing as they were in very crouded conditions when I got them?

They are in a seperate pen to the old two, and I had proposed to keep them seperate for a week or so to be sure there was nothing major wrong with them. Should I put them with the old hens who could then teach them what life is about?

The lavendar Araucana was somewhat mucky and a little bedraggled when I got her, this was explained as the plastic cover having lifted over night and the hens having got wet - she seem less bedraggled today and I did watch her preening. Should I worry?

Sorry to load all this on you, but you give such good advice and I am a little concerned.

Thanks

Terry

[Alice]

Hello Terry, I know nothing specifically about keeping hens. I do know that the behaviour you describe smacks of animals who have been reared in inappropriate conditions. But with your good care they will recover and go on to lead normal chook lives. Since they're my little virtual chooks too, I'm rooting for them. I'm sure I'll soon hear they're doing wonderfully well.

[debsducks]

New Hens - is there a problem ?

Hi, I'm no expert apart from having chooks myself but i would say they probably they just need time to settle in. It doesn't sound like they were kept in ideal circumstances before you got them so life is probably a bit scary for them at the mo.
As far as perching i shouldn't worry as not all of mine do it either. For some reason they like to huddle together on the floor of the house.
Hope things improve and do keep us posted.

regards

debbie

[TPeers]

Thanks to both of you, I will keep you up to date with any/all the news.

You have confirmed what I have been thinking, but if a battery hen can be rehabilitated, so can these two - at least they have youth on their side!

Terry

[TPeers]

Well this morning the leghorn seems fine, bright, perky, scratching around - not much on the pecking front but I'm not too worried about her.

The Araucana is just sitting there, dopy like. Ruffles her feathers on occasion, has her eyes, which are clean, shut.

Why do I think I have a sick hen.....!

Should I move the leghorn out or is it too late and to keep the hybrids safe I should leave her where she is.

[TPeers]

That being said - that was at 7am, just went out to put the rain covers on (if the hen is ill I don't want her wet as well!) and see seems a little brighter and was pecking half heartedly at the food!

[MURFE 18]

Hi, tpeers, you could try giving them a booster drink , ie cider vinegar, or spice stuff,mix into the water container, can be got from any good animal feed shop, you could also spray with a lite mixture of normal vinigar and water, 50/50 when you introduce, the birds together, do it near dusk just before they go to roost,and spray all, hope this helps you , it does sound like badly kept before hand, but they will sone pick up i,m sure , good luck

[TPeers]

Thanks, I'll try that.

Could also be that I am expecting behaviour as seen from my hybrid pair and pure breeds are just different in their manner - is that possible?

Terry

[shirlthegirl43]

I would suspect that your new chooks didn't have a perch and were crammed together somewhere. The space will scare them for a while but they will soon get used to their new life and will thrive. We had an Araucana cockerel and he wasn't as friendly as the other chooks - a bit snooty and stand-offish - but very beautiful.

Hope they settle in and stop you worrying soon.

Thought we would have chooks by now as we were promised an ark (I know I have plans to build one but we don't have cash for the timber and mesh) but it fell through. We had even sourced the pullets - a mile up the road!! bother!

[TPeers]

Thanks Shirl - what a shame about your ark. The one I built (see the hen house thread) cost about £200 in the end - half what it would cost to buy. But a triangular ark would only cost £30-£40 to build. Wouuld you like me to draw up a plan for you?

[shirlthegirl43]

I have a set of plans already to build just the thing I want - just no spare pennies for the timber and wire. Thanks for the offer though. Might find a spare couple quid somewhere!! Great life isn't it - either Madmax works abroad and I am home alone or I have him home but he has no work! C'est la vie as they say

[Sue]

Terry
My hens seemed quite scared when I got them - but not to the extent of yours. They had never seen grass before and new foods got ignored at first. With a bit of patience you can get them interested in new things. They now love apple which I hang on a string for them and cabbage ditto. Cooked brown rice is their favourite morning treat and they do love cooked spaghetti too. Dried mealworms mixed in with a big pile of grass cuttings leads to all sorts of antics and in the evening a small handful of corn, at first ignored is now a source of hysteria!
They still wont sleep in their lovely new henhouse, although they lay in there quite happily and spend their nights on the henhouse roof, after trying to shut them in at night, I've given up and let them get on with it, as they are in a covered run.
Hope your hens are just adjusting and that it's not illness, it sounds as if they're OK, as you didn't mention poo problems!
Sue

[TPeers]

No! Amazingly enough they do seem healthy in that regard! Just getting the odd loose one now, but they are on grass for probably the first time in their lives and it will take a few days for their digestions to adjust.

The leghorn seems to have a part closed eye today, I can't see anything and she (I keep wanting to call her 'he', can't think why!) seems ok other than this, I think she must have had a squabble with the other one, inevitable as a pecking order will need to be established, but I will kep an eye (sorry) on it.

Thanks

Terry.

P.S. Will any Cider vinegar do or must it be from an approved source?

[Sue]

Terry
I was told you couldn't use "ordinary" cider vinegar, not sure why but it's apparently a different product from the one to give to hens. I got some from the breeder - can't remember the name, but in a blue plastic bottle and it looks a bit cloudier than the ordinary cider vinegar.
Sue

[TPeers]

Thanks - I'll see what I can source over the web... omlet usually have most things....