I am glad to say that the girls have now got used to the lower perches and they are settling easily at bedtime now. There are still squabbles but that is normal, there always were squabbles over who is allowed to sit next to who else.
It has now settled into the usual bit of squabbling and Peaches, Barley and Emerald are still last to go in but they are no longer standing on the little coop nest boxes, twisting their heads, to try to spot a (non existent) higher perch.
Despite the extra perches the girls have lined up together for the last couple of nights which is quite cute to see.
The current bedtime line up
Butterscotch is always in the middle and Speckles is very often next to Honey in the corner. Honey is more tolerant of Speckles than any of the other girls. Barley and Peaches like to be next each other when ever they can.
Speckles was sharing a dust bath with Honey a few days ago which was really nice to see. I often feel so sorry for Speckles being bottom girl and chased by most of the girls. Luckily she has speed on her side but seeing her dust bath next to Honey (in fact almost on top of Honey) was so lovely.
Butterscotch is still laying and after missing a day yesterday she laid her egg at first light before the automatic door opened as is usual for her. Once again it was intact from the lower perch which is an extra bonus.
When I checked in on them tonight they were in the same order as the photo above, from last night, except that Honey and Speckles had switched ends with Peaches and Barley. Speckles was in the left hand corner with Honey next along and Peaches and Barley in the right hand corner.
I am so glad that we made the changes and gave it time to settle. I know that they can now easily get up and down from the perches and the bedtime routine has returned to normal.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Nice photo of contentment. 🙂
I love the way they are all looking at each other as if they are having a bit of a chat.
Do you just have the one that roosts stood up? I have just started wondering whether bantams roost settled down and large fowl prefer to stand.
I have a hen that looks almost the same as butterscotch except for a slightly bigger hairdo – she was from a ginger silkie roo and barnevelder hen and we call her Tina ( after Tina Turner)
They all roost sitting down eventually but at the point in the photo above Topaz was standing while trying to decide if it was okay to allow Butterscotch to sit next to her. She is giving Butterscotch a stern look but it makes no difference because once Butterscotch sits down no one moves her as she is the biggest and even Topaz who is top hen can’t budge her from sitting position.
Butterscotch has a gold silkie father and a white sussex mother. I love your girl being Tina after Tina Turner.