Today was a turning point with integrating the girls

I had no work this afternoon so decided to spend a lot of time with the girls trying to get them together. It had rained heavily all night and continued all day. The bantys had very few dry patches left in their side of the run. Although we have put in the sliding plastic panels, the continued heavy rain proved too much and it leaked in between the wooden batons and blew in through the side and the open end by the veg plot.

My husband has another plan to make the bantys area more water proof. He is thinking of using the left over felt from the shed roof to clad the underside of the wooden batons where most of the water is leaking in. Just another of the never ending improvements!

The little girls were taking shelter in the coop. Honey’s egg was just outside the coop so I am not sure if she didn’t make it in today, or if they pushed it out when they went in the coop.

I made both big and little girls a dish of mash so that if the little girls were kept away from the food at least I knew they had had a good feed.

I started by separating Bluebell on the little girls side and as usual Pepper, Dotty and the little girls were fine together. After quarter of an hour I decided to let Bluebell join them as she was getting very wet and bedraggled.

Bluebell looking really wet and bedraggled

Bluebell needed a good preen

I put an extra food dish on the big girls side for the little girls as I’ve never seen them go to the big girls feeder.

The little girls discover the extra food dish

All five girls mixed quite well. Bluebell seemed a bit subdued and therefore not so aggressive with the little girls. I don’t know if it was because she had got wet over their side, although I still had to coax her out of their area. Bluebell made a strange noise on and off all afternoon which was a cross between a growl and the noise Roy Orbison makes on the song “pretty woman”. I don’t know if this noise is something to do with her mellowing towards the bantys today.

I took a book and sat on my little chair so that I could keep watch over them. The big girls settled on the coop roof for an afternoon nap.

The big girls take a rest on the coop roof

They all snooze

I love the way Dotty has her head under her wing.

Meanwhile the little girls were sitting on one of the wooden blocks. First they preened then sat down for a while.

The little girls preen

After their snooze the big girls went for a dust bath in the only patch that had stayed properly dry.

The big girls enjoy a dust bath

The little girls were trying to scratch a hollow in damp soil when they decided to abandon that and join the big girls.

The little girls join in the dust bath

They gradually got closer together

Taking you under my wing

This was so nice to see, such a step forward. My husband came to see how we were getting on and as it was approaching dinner time, he suggested opening the gate and letting them have the whole area. As I expected they all went in the bantys side and the big girls either scared  the bantys to behind the bush or to the corner. I said they needed an escape from the corner so that they don’t get trapped and my husband lifted the chicken wire over their dead branch perch to allow them a second way out.

This worked really well and they soon got the hang of escaping from either end or getting back in through the corner. I checked back on them a few times and everything was going okay.

After dinner we went out to them again and the big girls were settled on the big perch in the run and the little girls on the coop roof so still in two camps but not hassling each other. I did my usual evening clean up chores then decided it was time to put them back on their own side and lower the wire again. They have been together for a whole afternoon with hardly any hassle so this has been a big step forward.