Three New Hens

Since our oft talked about chicken catastrophe last year in which minks killed off half of our flock until I was able to trap them, our flock was cut in half.  We have 25 hens remaining.  So it was with great joy last week when our neighbor's grandson walked over and asked if we'd be interested in adopting three hens.  What a good neighbor!

His sister lives in town and purchased three hens at Tractor Supply.  At first her three hens seemed neat.  The newness quickly wore off and the hens wouldn't stay where they were supposed to stay.  They roamed around causing trouble and made lots of noise in the neighborhood and they laid eggs in different hiding places all around the yard.  Before long, it was determined that the 3 hens needed to be re-homed.

Of course, we'll take them.  Bring them on over.  They were wild and he had lots of trouble catching them.  I told him to wait until they're roosting at night and then he'd be able to grab them.  Sure enough, it worked.  He called me the next morning and told me that he had caught them the night before when they were roosting and he was bringing them over.

I asked him to put them in the cattle trailer and I'd introduce them to the rest of the flock when I got home.  The three birds are very healthy and will be a welcome addition to our dwindling flock.

Before putting them with the rest of the chickens, I used some tin snips to clip one of their wings.  This keeps them off balance should they decide to try to fly up and over the exterior fence.  After cutting the feathers off, I gently set the hens down with the rest of the flock.

It generally takes a while for new birds to get acclimated to the rest of the flock.  They tend to be standoffish.  The new birds don't know the routine.  Last night, they didn't go into the henhouse before the door closed.  That resulted in them being out exposed in a very dangerous place.  Mink and raccoons and possums prowl about at night on their nocturnal maneuvers.  We lost one hen just last year that didn't get into the henhouse before the door closed and a big barn owl was eating the hen when I went out the next morning to do the chores.

Last night I went  out after dark to see if the new hens made it into the hen house.  Nope.  They didn't.  I used a headlamp to find them out in the pasture, huddled in a little group.  I caught one by hand and put her locked up securely in the hen house.  The other two were wise to my plans and were wild by then and were having nothing doing with me.  No amount of telling them that it was for their own good would help.  I went and got the net we normally use when we go crabbing and used it to scoop up the other two hens.  Believe it or not, I had to run out tonight and catch those 3 hens once again.  They just don't realize the danger they are in.  After I secured them in the hen house, I locked the door.  I hope they figure out the routine.  I don't want to have to go chasing hens every stinking night to safely secure them.  After losing so many hens and then being gifted three to make up for that, I want to keep the hens happy, healthy and laying many eggs for us.