Top Tips for a Happy Rehoming - Part Two So now you have your hens home - what next? Your hens will have had a very long day - the volunteers start loading them into the crates at 6am and many will have a six hour journey ahead of them. At the collection point, all hens will have been taken from the crates and given the opportunity to have a wander around and something to eat and drink for an hour or so. Please remember these are caged hens - everything you present to them is new and different, from the straw in the nest boxes to the big, scary sky above them. Even walking around is a new experience! They will have underdeveloped leg muscles and are not used to jumping up and down, so please ensure you gently place them down and do not drop them expecting them to flutter gracefully to the floor - they probably wont! When you get them home, put them straight into the coop with the door/pop hole to the run left open so they can explore at their leisure. They may not choose to come out and being winter, there may not be that many hours of daylight left, so please dont worry if they are not up to exploring on the first day. They are used to eating dry layers mash at the farm and may not recognise layers pellets as food. If you dont have any mash, you can put some pellets in a bag and bash them with a rolling pin to crush them, but a small bag of mash wont cost too much and will help them feel at home. Place a couple of dishes of food an water out for them - this will help avoid too much bullying and fighting. Dont offer any treats or extras to start as the familiar food will help them to settle quicker. If they do leave the coop you may have to encourage them into bed when it is dark for at least the first few nights, possibly a week or more. It is essential you do not leave them outside, they will get chilled as they are used to being kept in a fairly constant temperature and not exposed to adverse weather, so switch the automatic pop hole off - you are going to have to do this one manually! While we recommend your new hens are housed separately from your existing flock for at least a few weeks, if you are putting them in with other hens straight away, wait until it is dark and your existing hens have gone to roost before you place the new girls in the coop. This will help avoid the immediate scuffles and give them all a chance to get used to each others smell while they are at their most docile. If you are housing your hens in a large area, such as a barn or stable, place some cardboard boxes lined with bedding on the floor so they have a smaller, cosy place to snuggle up in - they may feel lost in the large open space and will like to cuddle up for warmth. Although these hens are used to having a perch in their cages, you may find they prefer to sleep in the nest boxes. Dont worry about that for now, they may start to roost naturally but for a hen living in a barren cage, snuggling down into warm straw or bedding is a going to be a novelty and a real treat for them. Your hens may look a little different to what you were expecting. They may have large, pale combs that are flopping over. Hens use their combs to dissipate heat so they will have grown in the barns. Over the coming weeks they will reduce again and with time the bright red colour will return. Some hens are quite well feathered whilst others will be looking decidedly threadbare with very few feathers. PLEASE dont put knitted jumpers on them. Lots of bedding in the coop will keep them snug at night. You can use dust free wood shavings (not sawdust) or a hemp based bedding like Aubiose. Straw can be used, but it is not very absorbent and compacts down, as does shredded paper. Please do not use hay as when it is damp, fungal spores can grow, which can cause respiratory illnesses. Look out for more tips tomorrow :) Have you got any recommendations for bedding? What have you found to be effective? Anything your hens dislike?
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:54:01 +0000
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