It’s been a very cold start to the year. Even so if there is a patch of sun the girls will find it and they love a dust bath together.
Speckles was dust bathing nearby, in front of the little girls, in the first photo. Smoke is often not part of the little girls’ group. Smoke is the only aggressive girl among the little girls and they often keep out of her way. Smoke doesn’t seem to mind being a bit of a loner though.
In the same way Ebony is the only aggressive girl of the bigger girls. Flame and Speckles don’t seem to mind though and Smoke isn’t bothered by Ebony either. They seem to recognise each other as the most fierce.
Because of this Smoke is top girl of the little girls. However Ebony is number two of the bigger girls as Speckles maintains her top girl position because she is the eldest and has been part of the flock for the longest time. Speckles manages to maintain top position without aggression.
It is all part of life as a chicken though and the little girls don’t seem bothered by it. The pecking order must be maintained.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
They all look peacful, and happy.
They do look happy together. Today Ebony and Smoke are dust bathing together. It’s funny how they have formed an alliance with each other.
Lovely to see that the chicks have been fully accepted into the flock xx
They have been accepted without any problems which has been lovely. They seem to have just slotted in seamlessly xx
Great to have dry earth for a lovely dustbath – I have sand in a cat-litter tray under cover, but the rest of the run is saturated, despite the tarpaulin, as it’s rained here for so many days.
I always wish more of the run would stay dry but I guess I should be grateful that parts always stay dry and these become the dust bath areas when the usual ones are not available. It is really difficult to combat continued rain though.