The outcast hen

[kt.]

2 days ago we saw a hen strutting down the middle of the road at night, nowhere near where you might expect them to be. We caught it and added it to our flock. It seems a lot older (looking at its feet). I know hens squabble a little when new as this one has. It is always on its own in the cree or outside so I put food directly in front of it away from the others.

This is the first time I have added to my flock and no doubt will need to do so in the future with younger hens. How long does this last before it is accepted or will it not be?  ???

[kt.]

[agapanthus]

Probably a while....and will more than likely stay
at the bottom of the pecking order....unless it's
a fiesty one who fights back:)

[glow777]

a couple of days for acceptance a couple of weeks to sort out the pecking order properly (IMO)

Its best to add them in groups ( ie 3 or more if possible) it spreads the fighting rather than have one individual continually hassled. It is also better to add them at dusk

[Hyacinth]

Wondering if it's someone's pet bird .....you gonna advertise around?

[Marymary]

She should settle down soon.  I have added to our flock a few times & the main trouble has occurred at the start as soon as they are introduced, a bit of a squabble then the odd peck & then OK, we had one little bantam that wouldn't accept the initial pecking from Top Chicken & it carried on to a real fight which I had eventually to break up as the little one was bleeding badly & she had to go back to her original home - we had been attempting to rehome her.

[kt.]

The outcast hen now comes out of the cree with the others when I open the door. But....... my hens started laying 9 days ago, one of anyway, I was getting an egg every 2nd day. Since the outcast hen was added I have had no more eggs. I hope its just to do with the weather and time of year.  ???

[agapanthus]

Chooks are so funny......any slight upset and they stop laying:)
That's hens for you :D

[teresa]

Adding a new hen can be like world war 3 but they do settle down its all about pecking order once sorted they are all best of friends.
Best to scatter food all around the run gives the new bird a chance and a couple of water dishes helps.
Worst I had was took a week that was a top hen against another top hen neither would back down I ended up sitting in the run with them hand feeding cabbage leaves my idea was if they were eating they did not have time to fight haha.
But put a cockrel in and no fighting at all hens are strange and yes very easy to put them off laying for a few days.

[Hyacinth]

Wondering if it's someone's pet bird .....you gonna advertise around?

Have you?  :-\

[Hyacinth]

No good kiddies :-\, this Old Grandma's getting her last remaining brain cell over-worked & over-heated here, so, bear with me a min please?...

From the first posting I read that the hen was found strutting down the middle of the road, at night, nowhere near you'd expected a hen to be? (therefore no-where near you'd expect a stray hen from an established flock to stray?)

You say that from the look of its feet it wasn't a baby....
(so therefore SOMEONE had been looking after it, feeding it, loving it since it's birth? Possibly even now missing it?)

So....going back to your original statement that the hen wasn't in a 'normal' place to be found, isn't it more likely that this creature had flapped its (non-clipped) wings to hop over a garden fence, etc., wandered away & got lost??

With possibly grieving litle 'uns in the family thinking that their pet has been eaten for Christmas?

So......again...have you advertised the finding of this animal - by flyers, by cards on the local newsagents,  by contacting the local radio station etc?

Can you accept that a hen, 'X' years old, might, just possibly, belong to someone who's missing her and upset at the loss?

[kt.]

Wondering if it's someone's pet bird .....you gonna advertise around?

No I aint gonna put posters etc up. Had asked some allotmenteers already prior to your comment.

Our council does not allow hens to be kept as pets in private gardens on housing estates. So it aint gonna be a pet. The hen has now gone from my cree. Another chap on allotments keeps same breed of hen as the stray. Its now in with his.

[slyfox-mal]

did you know that there is a crime called theft by finding in the street

[kt.]

Didnt think it a crime when loose on the queens highway

[slyfox-mal]

better not park my car in guisborogh then  j/k:)

[kt.]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[kt.]

Hen that had stopped laying has started again with another egg today. :D

[veg man]

hi there i have 200 chickens myself its my hobbie been doing it 12 years are your chickens  pets  the one you found should have been checked before you put it with your chickens and put on its own  i was  wiped out by someone finding a chickenand giveing itto me then putting it in with them over aweek it killed 150 chickens and lots of very good trio birds and cost me lots of money and time

[kt.]

Will therefore all my new chicks come from a reputable supplier. What is the minimum age chicks / hens can be added to the current flock?