We love hens, they’re so cute and cheeky to have around the place. We also love eggs, however, lately our existing flock has been dwindling to the point where by late summer we were down to just two. Not only this but our two remaining hens are nearing retirement age and we haven’t had any eggs since early spring. We decided it was time to bring in some new girls.
At first we pondered getting rescue hens. We’ve had ex-bats before and it’s heart-warming to see them thrive after their tough start in life.
However, we had a particular issue with our two resident hens. Despite being a tiny flock, they are full of attitude and feistiness. The flock leader, MMJ is nine years young and eligible for a bus pass, but she doesn’t let that stop her ruling the roost with an iron fist. She’s never been a cuddly hen, in fact she doesn’t like being handled full stop. Not entirely surprising as she was part of our flock of thirteen who were born in the wild and never really took to the idea of domestication.
Our other resident hen is MMJ’s daughter, Bibblebot. She has learnt the ways of her mother and looks at us suspiciously if we come in too close. Not only this, she’s an Orpington so is big and strong. In short, we decided that bringing in ex-bats who need lots of tlc and gentle handling would probably not be wise given our current situation. Hens are naturally territorial and MMJ and Bibblebot would not take kindly to new comers, at least not at first. Merging flocks is a tricky business, hens need time to get to know each other and space to get away if things get heated. Also, the new girls would need to learn about their new territory, where the boundaries are, how far they can roam, where the feeders are, the water, the coop and all that important stuff.
We decided to get five young pullets who would be fit and strong and able to stick up for themselves if MMJ and Bibblebot got stroppy. We made some enquiries and eventually found a farm who had some young Hylines available. Hylines are great layers, hardy and naturally friendly, we couldn’t wait to meet our new girls.
We arranged to pick them up one evening a couple of weeks ago. Waiting till sundown was important as we wanted to bring them home and pop them directly into the coop where MMJ and Bibblebot would already be asleep. Doing the first introduction at night is a good way to gently merge a flock. As light levels drop hens become magically docile and less prone to antisocial behaviour. Our plan was to have the hens sleep together as one flock, but separate them again during the day. We would do this for a few days until the new girls felt at home in their new set up and MMJ and Bibblebot had got used to the idea of there being new hens in their territory.
For the first three days we kept the newbies in an enclosure within the paddock where both flocks could see each other but not get to each other. We spent lots of time in the enclosure with the new girls, letting them get to know us and getting them used to being handled. One thing surprised us, having had feisty un-cuddly hens for a while now we were amazed that the new hens seemed entirely comfortable to be around us. Right from the start they came hopping onto our laps and let us pick them up, this was a lovely surprise.
The new hens were growing in confidence by the minute so on day three we decided to partition off some of the paddock to let them explore new territory.
On day four we were at the other end of the paddock (the bit the new hens weren’t allowed in yet) trimming sheep hooves. Suddenly we were aware there was a hen looking up at us. It was one of the new girls, Dolly. She had somehow managed to get out of the netted off area and come to join us. We’re not sure how she got out but hens do have a way of doing that.
The result being we’ve now opened up the whole paddock. The merge has taken place, decided by Dolly. All the hens are together and getting to know each other a little bit more with each passing each day. We are delighted with our new hens and are even getting daily eggs, something we weren’t expecting given the time of year.
