Instead of spring greens, for the girls, I picked up sweetheart cabbage by mistake. The girls like the loose leaves of spring greens as when I throw them on the floor of the run they fling them about, pecking bits from them or stand on them to peck them.
They can’t seem to get into the tightly packed centre of the cabbage when its on the ground. I decided to hang the cabbage from a bit of wire making it easier for them to peck at it.
Cabbage hearts
Bluebell and Pepper pecking at the cabbage
The girls soon had the cabbage stripped to a stalk. The big girls have had cabbage like this before but it was new to the little girls. They didn’t take long to catch on though.
Two weeks ago Honey wanted to lay her egg at the same time as Pepper and Pepper pecked her comb until it bled. From that moment I installed the little coop as a second nest box to try to avoid this happening again.
When Bluebell laid her next egg, it was in the little coop and she has laid her eggs there ever since. I think being our biggest girl the little coop is probably more spacious for her.
A week ago Amber and Pepper had a stand off when they both wanted to lay at the same time. Amber was in the nest box and wouldn’t budge and Pepper was extremely cross, shouting and strutting and getting very red in the face. Eventually she went into the little coop. The two girls were so stressed by it all that neither of them laid an egg that day. We thought Amber had scored a point that day though.
The next day Pepper laid her egg in the little coop and has laid there ever since. We think she didn’t want to own up to losing the point so convinced herself that the little coop was the more prestigious and therefore she was simply keeping her status by using only the best nest box now. I am not saying that they think it out in this manner as we would but simply that the pecking order status is of utmost importance and must be maintained.
The following day we had our first (and only so far) five egg day. Bluebell, Pepper, Honey and Amber had all laid in the little coop with only Dotty laying in the original nest box.
Dotty has shown no interest in the little coop at all and continues to lay in the nest box. The little girls will lay in either, they don’t seem to have a preference but Bluebell and Pepper have laid in the little coop every time since their first time.
Honey and Amber have also got the hang of egg laying now. They no longer look unwell before laying and their eggs have normal shells. Honey is laying every other day most of the time and Amber every three or four days.
The little coop has been a great success as a second nest box as there is less arguing over having to share and most important there has been no bloodshed since we installed it. The pecking order is so complex and so utterly important to these funny girls!
Click here to see the history of my flock.