The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Maddox on July 13, 2009, 09:48:23 pm
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Hi All
Ok i have a problem, my mum and her baby chick are not being allowed back/join in the flock, during the day the stay by the hut and wonder around and at night they can go in the shed but they cant get in the coop and end up sleeping in the corner under it :(, from what I can see there is one BlueBell that seems to pick on them.
Any advice would be greatfully received, its been over a week now and dont seem to be getting any further.
Also the mum is loosing feathers, sha has now lost all her tail feather sand quite a few around her neck, is she just moulting???
Thanks all
Maddox x
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take the agressive hen out
put her in issolation for a week then let her back with the other chucks, that usually sorts them.
when our hens go broody we issolate them and dont put them back with the flock till the chicks are independant.
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What little buggers they are. Perhaps the feather loss could be stress or she has been bullied by the others? Sorry no advice to offer, I am sure someone will point you in the right direction and the problem easily solved. I hope all ends well and soon. :)
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i have a similar problem with my much prized shamo cockeral
(father of the chick) being the culprit!
have removed him from the flock with the ex-bat for company
until the chick is older and able to fight her own battles!
(shamo hen+chick are living with the ducks and goslings)
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take the agressive hen out
put her in issolation for a week then let her back with the other chucks, that usually sorts them.
when our hens go broody we issolate them and dont put them back with the flock till the chicks are independant.
Completely agree with Smiffy and Gem. remove the attacker, give him/her company if you feel soft enough, ::) then let them back in; take back out again if they are still at it until they learn it's unacceptable.
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OK folks will do, thanks for the advice, its strange coz some days she dosnt bother them at all, mum and chick show no interest of joining the flock at all, will remove said offending chicken and see if that works.
xx
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if you have space move EVERYBODY to a new pen then they will have to sort themselves out from scratch. Thats what we try to do when we introduce new birds, although one year it didnt work very well
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Ok i moved said nasty chick and all was ok, no one else attacked them but they still kept themselves to themselves and still roosted up the corner of the shed.
I let said chicken back with the flock today and within 10mins she attacking mum and baby?
Do you think I should rehome the bluebell, I dont really want to get rid of mum and chick or maybe just give it more time???
Maddox
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can you make a seperate broody coop and run within or within sight of the main run.
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Well things are a little better they get left in peace 80% of the time, mum even joins the pack every now and then but they are still not allowed in the coop, thankfully its within a large shed so they are both safe.
They were in a seperate run/coop and had been since a week after the little chick hatched Paul, just seemed a shame not to let em both free range.
Anyway as I said things are a little better, will just see how it go's.
xx
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it is but the girls can peck them quite badly. hope everything goes well. ours are in a 20x20 pen with a couple of batams acting as mum and dad. quite funny cochins running to a batam for protection.
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Hi Maddox, thought you may find this interesting, as you know i keep my broodies in a separate house and small run, within the field where the others free range, once hatched I keep them there usually letting mum back to join the flock after approx 6 weeks (once she's had enough)! and then the chicks out approx 8 weeks, there is always a bit of bullying for a couple of days until they settle, but the chicks dont have any protection from the mum, as she's well and truly off without them!
So as an experiment we decided to let mum and 2 chicks out at 4 weeks, bingo! no bullying, mum protects them and shows them the ropes and they all live happily together! (still sleeping under mum in the big shed at night) so far we've done it with 3 hens and their chicks, its a real success!
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Hi Dixie
Thats sounds fab, I will give it a go with the next chicks.
Thanks Dixie
xx
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Ok so my problems have deepend, my babe chick is now 11weeks old (I think she is a hen) and mum has lost all interest, prefectly normal, mum has returned to the flock but is still not allowed in the coop at night so roosts under it as she did with baby chick, baby bird is not allowed in the flock at all, she hangs around the house all day on her own and now at night when she tries to go into the chicken shed (where coop is) her mum beats her up and chases her out so now baby bird (past 3 nights) has taken to roosting in the bush next door to the shed :(
Can anyone help? im at a loss as what to do next :dunce:
many thanks
Maddox xx
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Probably not what you want to do but what about trying to rehome the baby?
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Hi
Yes Im guessing it may come to that but I would really like to try all options before I do :(
Maddox
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I've had a similar problem with my new ex-batts. One tiny scraggy one was being bullied by one of the others after about a week of harmony. The other two started to join in so I took her out and decided to put her in with the main flock of ducks and chickens. As soon as she went in there she started to bully the ducks and Jamie went between her and the ducks to protect them from her. She's a real tiny thing but I've taken a soft spot for her. Anyway, she then escaped by squeezing through between the spars of the gate and took off round the garden. Couldn't let her stay there as I need the dogs to get out, so went after her and put her in the isolation shed and run. Next morning I added more chicken wire to the gate and put her in the main run with the rest, and found her after a few hours tucked down behind the shed in a space just as wide as my hand span. So I reckon the others are bullying her back. Went out to a meeting tonight and when I came back she was down the back of the shed again, so I went in and got her, put her inside the chicken shed. I think only Jamie and the last light Sussex go in there at night. So tomorrow night the remaining three ex batts are going to be transported into that shed too, so they will all be there together when I let them out in the morning. It will be interesting to see if a night in the dark together will make them see eye to eye ;D
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I know how you feel, this is my first chick and Ive kinda got a huge soft spot for her but alas the others just wont accept her, so I think the best thing will be to rehome her :'(
Maddox
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The other thing you could try, and Annie touched on it, is to put the young one into her coop just before it gets dark and when the others go in once dark they should think she is one of them. I have been told by a very experienced farmer this is how you should introduce new ducks to eachother. I guess you would have to be standing close by to listen for any fighting - just incase it went wrong. Isn't is funny how animals behave at times?
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Im going to try and put mum & baby in the main coop once its dark and stand by to see what happens.
xx
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I managed to get 'scraggie aggie' in the shed last night and she was still there when I opened up this morning. Tried to get her to come out but in the end I put food in for her. Just going to check on them now.
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i would definately try putting them into the shed once it gets dark. I always do this with new birds and havent had a problem with fighting etc before. Good luck :)
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Talk about a worry, expecially with your first ever chick! Hope it sorts itself out.
I have been reading this with great interest as I have 4x 5 week old chicks. In the field we have 4 chicken houses - the chick ark, the ark, the chalet and the palace! The other night we shared the hens from the ark between the palace and chalet. The chicks have been in a little chick/broody ark and today were moved into the big ark now that they are big enough to manage the ramp. Mum is looking very ready to get away from the chicks and we will probably let her out at the weekend. Hopefully, the plan will be that when we finally let the chicks out they will continue to roost in the ark and will be left alone.
Could all go tits up of course! ;D