Re: new pullets won't leave the henhouse

In article <ZVgrf.507$yX1.1503@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"PammyT" <fenlandfowl@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> <rdc86@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1135438315.618255.82060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > hi, & seasonal greetings to you all.
> > Can anyone offer suggestions on this little issue? We have just
> > received 2 new maran pullets to go with our 3 old hens & cockerel. They
> > seem to be ok, and settled in (we've had them nearly 2 weeks now & they
> > are about 20weeks old) but why won't they come out of the henhouse?
> > The others do, daily, & spend most of the day outside, free-ranging it
> > around the stables & yard but these new girls won't. Well, they must
> > be eating & drinking (else they'd be dead!) but they aren't interested
> > in staying out at all. What's going on?. Do I need to force them out,
> > or do i just leave them to get better acclimatised? How long before I
> > need to worry? The breeder tells me they have been outside, but not for
> > a couple of weeks before I bought them, so as to effect the move more
> > easily.
> > Any ideas?
> > tim
> > ps, no direct replies to rdc86 please, that is my 'spam' groups email.
> > You can email me at tim_at_dousecroft_dottt_commm
> >
> are they getting bullied?
>
>

I would just leave them alone...

They will start getting braver and ranging further over the next 4 to 6
weeks. As long as they appear to be getting enough to eat and drink, I'd
not worry.

I had my finishing brooder cage inside of the henhouse so that the young
birds would go INTO the henhouse without me having to catch and train
them every night for 2 to 3 weeks. ;-) I'd just open the brooder door
when I felt they were ready and make sure that there was food and water
inside of the henhouse.

It generally took them about a month to start wandering further.

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson
.

Quantcast