Today was the day we decided to integrate the recent arrivals and the hens that had been poorly but had now recovered enough to be part of the main flock. Integrating 2 groups is bad enough, but we wanted a single flock and to have all the hens outside together,…
Lupin and Petal are continuing to make good progress; Lupin's limp seems to be getting better, and Petal has laid a few eggs and whilst the prolapsed skin is still showing, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. I want to make sure Petal's wound is fully healed before…
The integration is going well and we're now able to leave both groups of hens unsupervised for long periods of time. The area outside their run is protected by an electric fence, giving them over 150 square metres of space meaning that both groups can physically separate themselves if they…
The last few days both groups of hens have free ranging together in the afternoon and evening, and have made their way to their respective coops to sleep. Whilst some of the new hens have explored the coop and run, they've always found their way (or been carried!) to their…
The Laurels are settling in well! They're more trusting of humans, particularly if they come bearing treats, and are starting to venture towards us and eat from our hands. The time that both sets of hens have together has been slowly increasing, as there haven't been any major incidents yet.…
Both groups of hens have settled down now and the Laurels are becoming more used to us and we've started to let both groups spend some time together and moved onto the next stage of integration, where we let them free range together, but supervised. For the next few days,…
As well as this being the first day for the Laurels at their new home, it's also the start of the integration process. By having a fenced area and sleeping facilities under the coop and that area sectioned off the new hens are separate from the incumbent hens, but they…
