I still have a lot to learn

I went out at first light this morning and opened the little coop for the new girls. They didn’t want to come out. Dave’s set up had no run so I knew that they weren’t used to being outside and it would take a bit of adapting to. I lifted them outside several times but they just ran back in again. I decided to shut the coop in the hope that they would explore the outside a bit.

I had to close the little coop to stop the new girls going straight back in

A few hours later I needed to leave to deliver my lunches. The new girls were huddled close to the closed little coop and I worried that being unused to being outside they may be cold. I opened the coop again and they ran inside.

When I got back at lunch time I lifted the new girls out again and once more closed the little coop. I was getting very concerned by now that I hadn’t seen them eat anything or drink from the water dish. I tried scattering sunflower hearts and corn. I gave them mash as well as pellets and a few spinach leaves.

I used the trick that I have read people use, when rearing babies, without a mother hen to show them how to eat and drink. I picked up each one in turn and put her beak in the water and also in the mash. Nothing at all! No reaction to the water.

Later in the afternoon I put Pebbles in with the new girls. She went straight to their mash and also hoovered up all the seeds and corn.

Pebbles made a bee line for the new girl’s dish

The blob on the left of the dish is mash not poop. I had put a blob on the tile in case the new girls didn’t recognise the dishes but it didn’t entice them at all. The other girls are looking in but it’s more to see what delights are on this side than anything to do with the new girls!

Pebbles shows how it’s done but it is lost on the new girls

Pebbles gave the new girls a token peck, the kind that is aimed in their direction, but doesn’t actually connect. She also ran at them a couple of times but it was half hearted. It was to show that she was above them but with no real aggression. I was happy with how Pebbles was behaving with them but I was growing more and more anxious that they were not attempting to eat or drink. There was no poop either so I knew that they were not eating.

They were pecking at the ground, at the pine shavings and at the coop. I was getting really worried that this meant that they were hungry but didn’t know what the food or water was. At this point I e-mailed Sophie for advice as her first three seramas were of a similar age. I intended to call Dave in the evening to ask what he feeds and waters them with. I was getting really concerned at this stage.

Sophie said that the advice she had had, was to give chick crumbs until they start laying. She e-mailed me back a few minutes later saying her girls had been used to water bottles and she had bought them the sort of water bottles that rabbits use.

By now my instinct was, that failing getting them to eat, the more urgent thing, was getting them to drink. I decided to use the syringe to their beak like I had recently done with Caramel. I picked up Freckles first then Rusty and offered the syringe.

I couldn’t open Freckles beak as easily as Caramels but once I started to drizzle water on to her beak she suddenly started to take it. She started to respond to the syringe and I suddenly realised that Sophie must be right and this was what they were used to. I repeated the same thing with Rusty and got the same response. I did this with each of them twice.

They went back into their coop and I then broke pellets into tiny bits and put them in amongst the shavings and added some crushed sunflower seeds. They started pecking at the coop floor. There was lots of pecking and chirping and I realised that they were probably used to their food on the floor. They were probably really hungry.

I dashed out to the pet store and bought some chick crumb and a, small, rabbit water bottle. I dropped the chick crumb into the shavings and we rigged up the bottle just outside of the coop.

Oh my goodness they pecked at the crumbs then they spotted the water bottle. First Freckles took a drink from it and then Rusty came out and joined her. They drank for ages. I felt so relieved but also so stupid.

I had no idea. Every farmer I have got girls from has had similar drinkers to me. Either the galvanised type that I have or troughs. I hadn’t come across the use of bottles before. When we thought about it we realised that in Dave’s set up water would get knocked over, walked into to, or would have muck scratched into them so bottles was a sensible choice.

Thank you so much to Sophie who once again has been a huge to help to me and I didn’t need to call Dave as the problem had been solved. I was horrified to think that the new girls had been hungry and, even worse, thirsty all day. But I was so relieved to have solved the problem before it became too late.

The farmer I got Emerald and Toffee from said that chickens will always find the water. I said this to Sophie and she said that he didn’t know seramas! The habit must be so ingrained in them that even when I put their beak in the water dish they didn’t respond. Oh my, what a learning curve for our first day! I think I have loads of chicken experience and then there is a new lesson to be learned.

Thank goodness I have connected with Sophie who has been of so much help on my serama journey.

The new girls find the water

This is obviously what they have been used to

The thrill of seeing them drink was amazing. I think tomorrow will be a totally different day. I think the fact that they didn’t want to leave the little coop may have been largely down to hunger and thirst.

I feel sure that tomorrow they will be much more adventurous and maybe we can even move on the integration process as there has been no aggression today. I get the feeling that this would be better done quickly. I feel much happier tonight than I have felt all day.

My instincts were right about them not feeding and drinking and thank goodness I managed to solve the problem before it had gone too far. I am still learning but thankfully I am tuned in enough to have spotted the problem early and a little help from a chicken friend sent me in the right direction.