ADVICE PLEASE!

lisavw · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:40 pm

I am new to all this so any advice is welcome.. I bought three bantams a couple of months ago, then yesterday came home with a new 14 week old Isa Brown chook, (the poor thing had a heavily trimmed beak upper and lower) and the bantams instantly ganged up against it..even the black one that gets picked on by her flatmates started pecking at this new girls head and eyes. i couldnt stand to leave her to run the gauntlet with them in the tractor, with nowhere to go, so put her in my puppys enclosure (because it was the only other semi-suitable spot till I thought what of the hell to do) but he thought it was all good fun to chase her and she got stressed of course. So she is sitting in a large birdcage on the back deck with food water and a lettuce leaf and I need to know what to do next. Should I donate her back to the people I bought her from? In case you were wondering I bought her cos the others had stopped laying.

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:07 am

Hi lisavw,

I would take a bantam out of the "gang" and put her with the new girl (even in the cage for a couple of days if that's all you've got) so that they become "friends". One bantam on its own is less likely to bully her.

Then try putting the two of them back in with the others - maybe because she has a friend the rest may not pick on her so much.

It may be harder because she is still young, but because she's a big breed she might be okay.

Deb :-D

lisavw · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:16 am

thanks Deb,
I will give it a go, meanwhile I am building her a tractor of her own in case the "buddy" hen keeps up the torment. I read that once blood is drawn the chickens can turn cannibal, and there certainly would have been blood drawn had I kept her in there. Being a slightly bigger chook could have been useful for her had she not had her beak mutilated at one day old!

ritaz1964 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:07 am

can you put her in with the others, but in the bird cage, so they can get a whiff of eachtoher and get used to her without being able to attack her.

I have 8 chooks, half are seperated by wire, but have access to eachother for the last two weeks. I am going to attempt integration this weekend, but need to keep a watchful eye. Its hard bringing just one new one into an established flock, they do gang up... chooks can be nasty little biyarchs!

lisavw · **Posted:** Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:12 pm

thanks you guys I am really grateful for your ideas. I have built a 7ft by 3ft tractor for the new chook. I put her in there and I have trialled putting one hen at a time in with her but each of them chase her around the small area, she gets desperate and hurls herself at the fencing. I cant seem to let nature take its course and leave her with them to sort it out cos they peck her with very sharp beaks and aim at her head and eyes. She pleads with me to let her out and now she has lost her voice. So I am not going to try them again, they can have their tractor and she has her own one with no friends. She does not do any of that scratching or dust bathing she mostly just stands and looks out at things. But I keep up the darling downs layer mix full of lovely grain and sunflower and corn seeds all sorts. She loves flinging that around the place. She is quite placid and eats out of my hand but she loses an awful lot cos has virtually no beak. She had never seen lettuce before and is getting the hang of it.

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

Their was a good section on dr Harry one night about introducing new chooks to the flock , and he did what Ritaz said ,put them in a smaller pen inside the other pen for a bout a week , Good luck , Ian

Troy Hollings · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:36 am

I found this topic a few days ago and it helped me.
http://www.australianpoultryforum.com/v ... php?t=2006

lisavw · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:03 pm

thanks everyone due to all your suggestions I now have a good little foursome. I put the new girl in a smaller cage inside the tractor with her own food and water for two days, then next few days left the door of her cage open so she could come and go out of her safe place. i watched at first to see if the cheeky bantams would step into her cage to get at her but they didnt bother, just pecked now and then at her thighs thru the spaces or if she wandered around the tractor. then I took the small cage out altogether and noone does any particularly nasty pecking just the odd reminder about her being the newest kid on the block.

littletoni · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:49 pm

That's great

glad it all worked out for you.

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