I have mentioned before that Butterscotch goes to bed quite a bit later than the rest of the girls. Last night I decided to photograph her.
Butterscotch is very much her own girl and has loads of confidence. Sometimes Topaz will give her a quick peck to let her know that she is below her in the pecking order but Butterscotch hardly flinches.
Very often all the girls will be perching on the ladders and branch perches but Butterscotch will be drifting around the run pecking and scratching. Sometimes she perches with them but not all of the time.
The girls go into the chicken shed about forty minutes before the automatic door closes but Butterscotch goes in about twenty minutes before the door closes. I often wonder how she knows when to go in but she has never yet missed the door closing.
Butterscotch at near dusk with her spiky hair do
The rest of the girls are getting into their bedtime positions
Butterscotch has some pellets then some water
Butterscotch looks as if she is about to go in
Is she going in?
The feet inside the shed belong to Peaches. She has jumped down so that she can jump back up again next to Barley.
She didn’t go in and is now pecking at stray pine shavings
She has some grit
Meanwhile the rest of the girls have settled
Butterscotch has some water
Now Butterscotch takes up her bedtime position
Jackie asked recently if the girls always faced a particular way. It seems to be quite random. I had thought that the first ones up with plenty of turning space would turn to face the front and those last up with no turning space would end up facing the back of the shed but I see in this photo that Emerald and Honey have space to turn but are facing the back of the shed.
It does appear to be completely random. The only constant is that Peaches and Barley always try to be next to each other and Butterscotch is always around the middle. It may be that because Butterscotch is last into the shed the middle position is the easiest place for her to jump up.
It is quite interesting to see how they line up and that Butterscotch doesn’t just follow the flock but very much does her own thing.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Penny likes to face the wall, like she’s in a timeout. I think she’s trying to warm up her butt…lol!
The adults usually face the window, but will often try to scoot around in the middle of the night to fnd new spots. Sometimes they shove themselves inbetween the wall and another bird, or peck a bird’s butt to tell them to move over! It’s gotten bad once in a while, when a chicken slept under the others and woke up with poo on their back/neck. It’s been both Cochins that this has happened to…(King Richard the roo and Princess Peach) so I’m thinking that this breed may not have the smartest bird-brain! 😉
It is odd how they decide where and which way to face. The one saving grace with my set up is that there is only one height of perches so no one is pooping on another. One thing that I have noticed is that Speckles being bottom girl is always on the outside of one side or the other, never near the middle. I think the middle is reserved for higher ranking girls and bottom girl is always close to the outside, makes sense in a wild situation where the outside ones would be more vulnerable and stronger characters would be safer in the middle.
I did actually leave another reply to you on the subject of snow. I don’t know if you saw it but I thought that I hadn’t explained our occasional May snow properly so added a bit more detail.
I know what you mean about some birds not being the smartest but of course we have got to love them all the same.
SO true!
(I did read your reply on the snow too, by the way! 😉 )
Butterscotch is a real character – a delight to read about and, I know, a pleasure to have in your flock.
One of my pullets, hatched last year, laid for the first time yesterday, although I’m unsure which one. There are 5 in that cohort, now aged 31 weeks, and although 3 of them are looking like coming in to lay, the other 2 (a Japanese and a silkie) look months away! At least there is one who should lay right through now.
You are so right about Butterscotch. I was chatting to my mum about her and she said she has become her favourite. I said she has so much character and she definitely marches to her own drum.
Great news on getting a first egg. Despite all the practice Topaz still hasn’t started yet. Peaches and Barley now have big red combs and today had a practice in the new little nest boxes. I was really pleased about this for two reasons. They must be near to laying again and it means they are happy to use the new nest boxes, hurrah!