Fine tuning the new girls part of the run

I have been trying to address the things that were not working well in the new girls part of the run. In recent years I have had new girls in September. This has meant that the main flock had stopped laying and I could switch the whole flock to grower pellets for the winter and start integrating straight away.

Having new girls at this time of the year means that the main flock are just about to start laying with Flame laying already. This means that the main flock need to stay on layers pellets while the new girls need to be on growers for the next couple of months.

This means that it is worth making an effort to make their part of the run work as well as possible. Once I have sorted out bedtime I will be able to open the bottom half of the run and give the new girls more space but for the moment I need to sort out the issues with their current part of the run.

One of the problems has been that the new girls constantly stand in their water dish or run through it so it is always dirty and needing changing constantly. I decided to buy a different water dispenser.

The other problem has been bedtime. I had been going in to them at dusk in the hope that they would go in the coup without me there to distract them but each evening they were perched on top of the chicken wire just under the roof. This makes it awkward for me to lift them down and must be uncomfortable for them as its a thin edge to cling to.

Last night I decided to go in to the new girls earlier and see if I could persuade them not to fly up but to go in the coup. I soon discovered that it isn’t because they don’t know where to go it’s because they don’t want to go in the coup. They want to perch high up.

As it got near dusk Gold became very agitated. She was marching up and down the perimeter and looking upward. She looked stressed and was obviously looking for somewhere suitable to perch.

I tried picking each girl up and putting them in the coup in the hope that that they would then go back in later. They all three popped straight back out and Gold continued to look agitated. I decided to pick them up once more and put them in and close the coup. I decided that today I needed a new plan.

I remembered that I had the same thing with Peaches and Barley, the cream leghorn chicks of about the same as age as our new girls. They too wouldn’t go in the coup but used to perch on a plant holder that I had in the corner of the run. I ended up putting a little perch there in place of the pot and letting them perch there each evening until I would go in and lift them down and put them in the coup.

I decided that I needed to put up a high perch for the new girls that they would be happy to perch on and then after dusk I would be able to easily lift them down and put them in the coup.

I also realised that the where the coup is now, in the corner, water can drip in when it when it rains, through the mesh above the marine ply. I decided to cover it with tarpaulin to make sure it stays dry. I then decided to place a board over the tarpaulin as the new girls like to stand on it and were slipping and sliding on the tarpaulin. They will be able to use that as their way up to the perch so I wanted to make everything as safe as possible.

I also decided to remove the slates that the food and water dish had been standing on as I don’t want sharp edges in case they fly down from the high perch.

This shows the new perch which I can reach easily and the coup covered with tarpaulin and then a board on top.

My first idea for a new feeding station was to put it in the shelter.

The girls absolutely refused to go in the shelter. I tried picking up Gold and Storm and placing them in there but they immediately jumped back out. I abandoned this idea as I didn’t want them going without food and water too long as they are usually always in the food dish.

I decided this position was out of the way and with the new water dispenser and it’s new position I thought it wouldn’t be stood in. I also switched to one of our big food dishes so I don’t need to constantly fill it up.

With the food and water dishes in their new position the girls went to them straight away. All that remains to be seen is if the girls use the new perch tonight. This is going to be interesting!