I have talked recently about the girl’s individual habits so I thought it was about time I showed Toffee’s habit.
Toffee absolutely must be next to the side of the chicken shed when roosting for the night. She always goes in first to bag her spot. She doesn’t mind if she is on the right or the left as long as she is up against the side. If she isn’t in this spot she gets very distressed and does whatever it takes to regain her spot.
This really came home to me one night when she was the only one in the shed and because I had gone up to the girls earlier than usual that evening she came out again and then lost her place. I looked back at all the photos of the girls at bedtime that I had taken this month and realised that in every single one she is always at the side of the shed.
Butterscotch likes the middle spot but doesn’t always end up in the middle spot. Peaches and Barley like to sit together but they don’t always end up together. Toffee, however, always ends up at the side.
Toffee is on the left up against the side of the chicken shed
Toffee is on the left again a few nights later
She doesn’t seem to mind which way she faces as long as she is up against the side. I think this probably makes her feel safe.
Toffee is not in her place
This was the evening I distracted her and she spent extra time out in the run. She had been in her usual place but came out again and when she returned there was no space at either end.
Toffee looks up trying to work out what to do
She became very agitated. She could have jumped across to the space between Butterscotch and Emerald but that wasn’t where she wanted to be. Eventually she jumped down and came out again briefly as if to work out what to do.
She went back in and jumped at Emerald’s spot pushing Emerald off the perch.
She displaces Emerald so that she can have her spot at the side of the shed
Emerald jumps back up into the small space between Peaches and Butterscotch.
Emerald preens herself
Emerald spent a bit of time preening and trying to look nonchalant about being displaced. Toffee is now happy once more.
A few days later I took another photo. I always take more than one in case one is blurred and couldn’t resist both of these.
Toffee is on the right
I love the way the girls look down. In the photo above Barley is looking down and in the one below Speckles is looking down.
Look up, look down
They often do this and I wonder what they expect to see down there.
Last night I decided to take a photo of Toffee at the beginning of the bedtime routine to further demonstrate this.
Toffee goes in first to secure her spot
She has the pick of all this space but this is where she wants to be.
A closer shot of Toffee
The final line up
When I went back once they had all gone in Toffee was still in the same place but facing the other way.
It is funny how determined and steadfast she is at having this bedtime position. They do make me smile.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
OMG, they are sooooo funny.
My little Ginger used to go to bed first and not only did she have a favorite spot, but she’d open up her wings to make herself as big as possible so no one would get near her.S Sadly, at 4.5 lbs, she was tiny. And when my big 9lb Honey Bear would come to bed, she’d jump up on the roost and then turn around and EVERY time her tail would knock Ginger down. I’m sorry I never could capture that on video as it was too dark. But it went down every night.
I would have loved to have seen that video. They are so funny with their little habits.
You would not like to sleep on the other side of Richard would you, so guess they allso like their own places.
I never thought of it like that.
My Penny will sleep backwards too. We think she might be pretty smart though, as she could be avoiding the house lights and the sunrise so she gets a full 8 hours of sleep! 😉
(I actually don’t know if they get that many…thanks to the rooster)
Mine sleep facing either way, there is a window but I doubt there is much light through it with the run being covered. Wouldn’t we just love to know what goes on in there through the night!