My latest bedtime idea

I am really pleased with how quickly the new girls have settled into the flock. It’s only been a week today since they arrived and they are now completely integrated. The only blip is getting them to bed at night.

Pebbles was fine with going to bed until after we lost caramel. Now she doesn’t want to go in at night, as well as the new girls. I realised last night that it is the bigger girls intimidating the little girls that is causing the problem. It’s a little bit of Peaches and Barley but mostly it’s Speckles who is chasing them out.

Having put the cat box in the shed last night I have come up with a plan for tonight. I am going to put the new girls in the cat box at bedtime but with the door on it and close them in. This will stop them coming out and will keep them safe from the attentions of the other girls. Once they are all settled I will remove the door.

I hope that if they sleep in the cat box and come out by themselves in the morning they may return there the next night. Once I have this routine established I will teach them to perch up at bedtime at a later date but for now they will have somewhere they feel happy and safe to sleep.

It may work or it may not but we have nothing have to lose.

One of the things I am loving about the new girls is that having them from so young means they are really easy to handle. They have already got used to the idea that I protect them and I feed them and they run to me when ever I go in the run. They are really comfortable around my hands and feet and they will allow me to touch them and stroke them.

I am determined to keep handling the three little girls so that they remain used to being handled. They are ridiculously cute!

There is another difference between seramas that I wasn’t aware of until I had my girls. They have different coloured faces. Pebbles and Caramel, below, both have/had red faces.

Caramel and Pebbles

Where as Rusty and Freckles, below, both have white faces.

Rusty and Freckles

This was Rusty and Freckles on arrival day, last Sunday.

Freckles and Rusty

This was Rusty and Freckles a few days ago. Already Rusty’s head feathers are growing. She is such a little ball of fluff.

When I got Emerald the farmer had birds of her colour with both black faces and white faces. I chose Emerald with her white face. It remains white in winter put goes pink in summer and red when she is laying. It seems that are many different varieties of serama. I have very quickly grown to love these little birds.

Tonight at bedtime I put the new girls in the cat box. I felt quite cruel because they twittered and were up against the bars, wanting to get out, where as in the little coop because it is dark they settle down straight away. I decided to cover the cat box with a tea towel so that it was dark and they settled down.

It is Speckles that is causing the problem at the moment. She had been all around the cat box and had jumped on to Pebbles little perch forcing her off. The bigger girls had taken no notice of the little perch to start with but now Speckles is determined to disrupt it’s use. I waited until the bigger girls were settled and then returned Pebbles to her perch.

I hope that soon Speckles will get bored with this and things will go back to normal. It has obviously changed the status quo having the new girls in the shed.

I went back a little later and removed the tea towel and five minutes later removed the door to the cat box. I checked again as the automatic door was closing and all was settled.

The new girls are settled in the cat box

The new sleeping arrangements

Pebbles still looks as if she is wondering what they are doing down there. Time will tell whether this idea works out but for now I know that all the girls are safely in a good sleeping place.