New additions!

Meet Helga (lavender), Medusa (chocolate frizzle?) and Odin (lemon..I'm not sure whether they are flavours, scents or colours.. Bantam/Peking to me.)






Bricking them. Cruella hates me going in so god help these 3..!

 

Awww, so CUTE!!!

Do you want me to send Margot over to keep Cruella in check?

 

PLEASE!!

Mind you, lil Helga is a feisty one! Peking my bloody fingers off here!

 

Pekins can be a little on the noisy side, but, with plenty of handling are charming creatures.

 

Be prepared for a bit of squabbling; it will sound (and look!) quite brutal, but this is how the pecking order goes. It should settle down in a few days. Just keep your eyes open for any injuries.

 

I've noticed! Odin is trying to crow

Helga is making sweet purring noises and Medusa is like.. "when the hell are you letting me out?" and flapping like a good 'un. I've got the spray and powder on standby.. need a lil bit of courage to introduce them. Cuppa tea and then I'll do it...deep breaths Lin!

 

Erm ... I see they are POL ... it may be possible that you have a cock there my lovely! Be prepared to contact the seller for a return/exchange if that attempt at crowing doesn't stop in a weeks time.

Have a couple of cuppas and introduce them at bedtime.
Firstly, it means Cruella will be settling down for the night and won't be quite so ... territorial; secondly, there is a theory that Cruella will wake up and not even notice the new additions. I say theory because, if you were slotting in *one* amongst a group, that may well prove true. However, you're introducing 3 to a lone chook and to even suggest Cruella may not notice is a real insult to her intelligence
All intro's in my (hen) house have been delayed until nightfall to minimise stress, trauma and fighting. If they all kick off in the morning, well, at least they have had a good nights sleep and have the energy levels to cope a bit better

 

I have had slight thoughts, did he grab a hen or..?
Odin is approx 22 weeks, Helga is only 16/18 weeks and Medusa is 2 and half... no idea how that stands with pecking order!?

Ah yes, I was going to wait it out..(but I'm a little excited though) they don't seem to mind being in a cat carrier atm they all have enough room to turn/flap (it is fat cat Cecil's carrier after all) they did have a few squawks on the drive home and you could really tell one was being pushed about.. all calmed down when they came in.. except Odin.. hence why she's called Odin

 

Age doesn't make the difference in pecking order ... dominant personality does
For "pecking order" think 'Top Dog'/'Alpha Male' and translate that into henny speak aka Pecking Order!

Now you have said Odin is 22 weeks, I'm leaning more toward ... you have a cock!
When I hatched fertile eggs (a few years ago now) you would think there was a 50/50 chance of male to female. Nopey I had a 75/25 male to female success rate Fairly sure that any "chook" attempting to crow at 22 weeks is a male. Sorry
Of course there are exceptions: it isn't unheard of for a hen to begin to crow but that happens later rather than sooner. Your neighbours will not thank you for keeping a cockerel so it is best to listen very carefully in the next few days and then ... take him back! If I'm right and he is a cock, he will dominate the girls anyway and the pecking order will pale into insignificance. You were *planning* on breeding ... weren't you?

They will be fine in the cat carrier for a good few hours, so no need to fret on that score

 

Enjoying the Hen saga. Good lord I had no idea things were quite complicated when introducing new members to the resident brood.
I certainly have had many anxious moments when introducing a new horse to the family.
Some years back I bought a very expensive newly broken 4yo from Ireland. Brought him home and introduced him to Eno and Dazzy our 2 resident horses. Normally neither would hurt a fly so we thought this 1st meeting would go without a hitch.......WRONG. Eno struck out at the young horse with his front leg, this is not advisable as Eno had shoes on! For a minute I thought the new horse had a broken leg, good god he's only been here for about 1/2 an hour and not even had time to insure him. Poor young horse hobbles off swiftly followed by Dazzy who then hounds the horse round the field. New horse skids along the side of the fence which has a top barbed wire strand and rips his brand new rug (cost over £200) from top to bottom. I suppose it was lucky he had a rug on otherwise he could have been severely cut.
Upshot was the 3 could never be in the same field. Eno and Dazzy stayed in 1 and the young horse in the other. Luckily the young horse was quite happy on his own.Definitely a case of two's company three's a crowd.
I sincerely hope @Linz your feathered friends don't do too much damage to each other while getting the pecking order sorted out.

 

NO @"M" ! Do NOT twist my arm ..again!

Thank you ever so much for your pearls of wisdom, it really is appreciated!

I sure hope she is not a he though! He did say any problems give him a ring. Mind you, I thought the same about Cruella at first.... might just be me! Seemed a nice bloke, he did say he bred them for a few years before but dairy farming takes up all his time now.. and is actually looking to get rid of most of his chooks so he can get his garden back.. he then went on to say "a couple of months down the line I might have some more, mind"

 

Oh my ... @silu that sounds awful!! The poor young horse..bet he was washed out after travelling let alone that happen to him, aww. He was not too badly hurt by it all I take it? Thankfully chickens don't wear coats/rugs!!

 

Hope the night went well and they are all settling in today ok.

 

Hope all is quiet on the hen house front this morning @Linz? Any news as to whether the hen is a cock? Yes the poor young horse was fine and 11 years later is still here! He managed to injure himself being a twit so has been happily retired for the last 5 years...sigh. The injury is very slight but he thinks it's terrible....when he was asked to do anything remotely challenging he decided he just wouldn't bother. Oh well "horse to water" and all that. He is blissfully happy doing sweet FA apart from eating and fertilising the garden.