Big smiles, I have 4 ladies on their way

[angelat]

they will settle before you know it and dont worry about them tonight as they do become subdued anyway at night time so they will be having a good snooze now no doubt! If they have all lived together which it sounds like they have then the pecking order should be established so you wont have to go through that. bet you cant wait for them to wake up!! hee hee, its so exciting!

[Glutton4...]

Ooooh how exciting! Congratulations from me and my 'Laydees' too.

[Jax]

Hi there, well they are happily clucy there way around the frosty ground this morning. One of them spent the night with her bum pressed against the wall but there was a little pecking order scuffle and she had been pecked abit but is fine now. They have all been together for the last 8 months so they are happy together.

[Jax]

Starting to see charcters emerge. Three are really placid and are quite happy scratching around the bottom. One is trouble!! She insists she must be ontop of the run. We didnt think we would need a roof but am rethinking that now!! Found her strutting her stuff on top of the run once, got her down. Found her again and she is climbing across the supporting struts across the middle again strutting her stuff. I dont think she wants to escape, shes just being naughty!! So we are going to find some of that corrugated plastic stuff. Heres a few piccies anyway. First 2 are the naughty chicken in question!!!

[Nicos]

Ha!!!!There's always one in the group isn't there? She seems to have the temperament of my Betty!( a very bright hen and fantastic mummy!)

Lovely to see the piccies- they look a lovely group.
I notice at least 2 of them are ringed- any reason for that???

A roof is certainly a good idea- if it snows then their run will still be clear for scratching around- plus it'll be more of a fox deterrent.

Many Congrats on your new family members!

[julesapple]

Ok, I'm a bit slow.....just found this thread. Duh!

They look lovely! Are you still spending every minute chook-watching? Have you got any eggs yet?

Jules

[Jax]

Yepp- always one! We lost her for about 20 minutes!!! My heart was thumping. She disapeared over the fence and we had to go and retrieve her. She has cut her nose in the process, only a little cut though. Serves her right!!! So we have put a temp roof on with what we had. Unfortunately what we had is fruit netting and sure as anything as we finished putting it up she gave it another go thinking, hey this is fun. Flapped around abit and fell back down. I dont know how long it will deter her and I think she will easily get through it if she really wants to so finding some roofing stuff as we speak. So my idea of trying to leave them alone to settle for abit hasnt worked!!!! oh and its blinking cold out there!

[Jax]

Oh i forgot to answer your questions. They came with rings on and I havent taken them off yet. Partly due to not wanting to interfere with them too much and partly because I havent stopped chasing my naughty chicken!! Jules- I havent stopped watching them yet, they are sooooo cute!! No eggs yet but they only arrived last night.

[julesapple]

Keep an eye on that wee cut, if there's any blood the other chooks might peck at it and make it worse. You might need to apply some gentian violet to it if they do peck.

The rings might be so that the previous owner could tell two similar-looking birds apart, so they might be handy to leave on.

I'm sure you'll get eggs today if they are established layers. Have they got a cosy nest box?

I started out three summers ago, with four chooks like you, but then the obsession hits.....I've got 14 now, all different types and laying all colours of eggs. And I'd still like more

Need to win the lottery and move to a bigger garden...

Jules

[VirginVegGrower]

They look lovely. Loving the picture of the one silhouetted up high. I want more!!!!

[Jax]

Yep keeping an eye on her. She isnt really bleeding, just looks alot sore. Unlike me who caught my finger and coated my finger in blood!! what a pallava hey!! To be onest when we found her in the neighbours garden she was nestled under a bush as she had given up jumping at the fence trying to get back and she looked a though she was laying but I wont expect them as stress with moving. Fingers crossed though

[VirginVegGrower]

She might have been lying in the sunshine having a dustbathing session or grubbing.

[RichmondHens]

Start handling them tonight, once they have gone in and settled down. Do it every night, they will soon get used to it. If you are not used to handling birds the best way is to grasp them by their legs, firmly. Pick them up with their breast resting on your palm and your fingers holding the legs with the tail away from you in case they poo (you don't want them pooing down your best shirt!) You can do almost anything with a bird if you keep hold of both its legs. There is no need to grasp the body and it sometimes panics them as they often can't breathe - people make the mistake of thinking wriggling birds are trying to escape out of fear when really they just can't breathe because they are being held incorrectly. You can choose to take the rings off then too although as Jules said it may be a way of ID-ing them - I ring some our birds for that very purpose! If you haven't already done so check for lice and treat if necessary and I suggest as you already have an escapee you clip their wings - just one on each bird (cut the big flight feathers back to the level of the second smaller feathers) to unbalance them and stop them flying out. If this keeps them in then you may find you don't need to roof your run, although a roofed run helps keep it dry.

[Jax]

Thanks richmond hens. I am suprised as to how tame they are. Especially the boisterous one which hubby has named bellatrix as I we couldnt decided between bella and trixie the trickster! So we put them together instead. I have been considering making some warm porridge for them as its very cold and the ground is still frozen. We are going to clip them just to be safe but she was getting up by jumping on her coop then up and over. I didnt realise how acrobatic they are! I have helped with chickens when the inlaws had them and luckily they taught me how to hold them which is good. They are quite happy being picked up and handled etc. Not even the resemblance of flapping or panicking which is good.

[Jax]

I let my ladies out this morning and found 2 eggs!! Rather large eggs aswell. The only thing is there was blood on one, is that ok or do I need to do some investigation work?