Since Cinnamon has been broody there has been a change in the bedtime habit. I close the nest box before bedtime so that Cinnamon doesn’t end up in there. Cinnamon goes to her normal spot on the perch but spreads herself out in a broody pose.
Cinnamon has also turned into “angry bird” and chases all the girls including Ebony and Flame. Speckles is the only girl she doesn’t chase which kind of reinforces her new status as top girl. It is amusing to see Ebony run from the tiny Cinnamon.
The three bigger girls perch here at bedtime
I lift these three girls from here one by one and put them on the back perch in the chicken shed.
Cinnamon spreads herself as wide as possible
Dandelion is now perching with the chicks
I just caught this action shot of Sienna stretching her wings
I am quite happy for Dandelion to perch with the chicks because there is no hassle between them. The chicks have now become part of the flock and don’t get chased around at all.
The odd thing with broody Cinnamon is that she wants to get into the nest box and when I close it she spends time looking for the door and yet when it is closed and she goes into the shed instead she always goes to her perch like the photo above.
How do their little brains work! She couldn’t hatch an egg from there so there is no point sitting spread out on the perch and yet she would spend the day there if I let her. I have had to resort to blocking the pop hole to keep her out. This is the first time she has taken more than a day or two to break her of this.
There have also been changes in the pecking order. Ebony has grown in confidence, especially around the treats, which she loves. A couple of times recently she has pecked Dandelion on the head to move her away from the treats. Despite this she still runs from the angry Cinnamon.
The funniest thing of all that I have seen over the last couple of days is Jasmine, the smallest chick, chasing Flame around the run. Maybe the chicks won’t be at the bottom of the pecking order after all. It will be interesting over time to see how the pecking order shapes up.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
How funny that Jasmine is chasing flame!! My most persistent broody Vi will be ‘in the zone’ for WEEKS and is always an angry bird. :-0 xx
It is amazing how angry they can be. Cinnamon pecks me when I lift her from the nest box. She also takes her anger out on Flame and at one point had her beak locked on to flames wing feather while Flame ran, dragging her alongside. I never seen her this broody before and never seen her this angry before! xx
The little girls look as big as Dandelion now,they have grown fast.
Love to hear of all their funny little ways.
Sienna is as big as Dandelion whereas Jasmine is still smaller but maybe like Cinnamon she will remain a bit smaller. Size doesn’t matter where the pecking order is concerned though. Jasmine gives a gentle peck to Sienna sometimes and is top girl of these two. She may be the smallest but she isn’t at the bottom. They do have their funny ways.
You’re absolutely right that size seems to have no bearing on hierarchy position. Can be quite comical sometimes.
I have long since learned that size has nothing to do with it. Seeing Cinnamon chase Flame is funny but seeing little Jasmine chase Flame is even funnier. Sometimes it must be the breed to a certain extent because Toffee was afraid of her own shadow and chased by much smaller girls and Flame is the same. Also seramas may be small but they are feisty. We think they don’t know that they are small!