New Chickens in the Coop

When you are raising chickens, there are some events which need to be dealt with

correctly so that neither you nor your chickens experience more stress than necessary. One event is when you have new chickens and want to introduce these newcomers to your existing group of chickens. I've heard this compared with trying to merge two restaurants, when one is Chinese and the other is French. A certain amount of stress is inevitable.

In some cases poultry owners take the slow but sure route of waiting for their own hens to hatch their eggs, as in this way they can avoid any settling in problems. There are times, though, when you as chicken keeper want to increase your flock immediately by bringing in birds from the outside. This is the point at which a little trouble can crop up, unless matters are handled carefully. Placing outsider breeds into a peaceful and comfortable neighbourhood of chickens can cause quite a strain between the old and the new.

In most situations it can be difficult to adjust to newcomers. When the stranger hens are introduced into a flock of birds that have already established their territorial rights inside their coop it can cause havoc. The newcomers will try to win their place too, and the old ones will make all efforts to defend their areas.

Don't worry too much about this. This kind of upset usually only lasts for a day or two. Settling in will take place. You can't avoid this kind of situation from arising but you can make a few arrangements to improve matters all round.

There are a number of peace-making strategies which will help both parties adjust to each other. It will be so much more pleasant to see both sets of chickens living together peaceably in one chicken run without pecking and harassing one another.

One very good strategy is to let them see each other but not be able to have any physical contact. Divide your chicken run temporarily into two with chicken wire, and put your old chickens in one side and the new ones in the other. This way they can see each other and get used to each other's presence without any harm being done. You will of course put separate water and feed containers in each side so that they don't have to compete for food. Leave them like this for about a week.

After about a week of living semi- detached' it is time to let them try living together properly. If possible transfer the new chickens to the resident flock's territory during the night when the birds are sleeping. When the old chickens wake the next day and realise the new ones are there they may become aggressive but with luck will not try too hard, being sleepy and taken by surprise.

It is an idea to put in place some distraction techniques to take the chickens' attention off the new birds and on to something more interesting. Here are some things you can try:

* Hang a piece of whole cabbage just above their heads. This should interest the chickens greatly and they will jump at it until it is all eaten, and maybe use up some of their energy and aggression.

* Place obstacles in the chicken run , such as large branches, so that any pursuing hens don't have a clear run and hopefully may just get fed up with it.

* If possible give the chickens more freedom or a bigger chicken run. They won't be in such close proximity to each other. This will give also give them more scope for hunting for grubs and insects and take the heat off the new chickens.

New Chickens in the Coop

By: Penny Menzies

POST COMMENT

Top 5 Vibrators Negocio Con Un Gran Equipo ¿Qué Hace Un Coach De Negocios? ¡negocios Exitosos! A Euro Lotto Syndicate Can Boost Chances Very much Find Out What Is The Net Worth of Tiger Woods Emprende Tu Propio Negocio Mens Silk Ties Make You A Charming Guy Al Establcer Sus Metas Evite La Adicción Viva El Hoy Y Sea Feliz What should I do if in an Accident? Why To Prefer Cpa? Lucrative Generating Traffic with Squidoo - 9 Steps to Generate Traffic with Squidoo