Getting together

Today was the day for getting the girls together and once again it got going a bit sooner than intended. We had work to do in the morning and after lunch I intended to poop pick then clean all the food and water bowls then start mixing the girls.

Half way through cleaning the bowls I noticed Honey was missing. Then I saw her coming out of the new girls coop. How on earth had she managed to get into their side! I think she must have got under the wire.

So there was no point in delaying and I opened the gate and let them mix. I lifted the wire at the patio corner so that there was a get out route. To my total surprise they mixed without any problems. There was a bit of quick pecking to say “out of my way” but nothing nasty. I soon felt confident enough to carry on with my cleaning tasks.

Topaz is definitely going to move up the pecking order though. Topaz gave Dotty a quick peck and then the little bantys. Then Pepper approached her and she gave Pepper the warning peck. Pepper looked totally surprised but just moved away. Pepper looked as if she couldn’t believe that her top hen status was being questioned. She has always remained top without the need for any aggression and she looked amazed that it was now being tested.

Sparkle was keeping well out of it and sat out of the way and snoozed.

The girls are together

Topaz is a great scratcher

For a while all the girls were in the new girls area and Topaz had the bigger area to herself. She was constantly scratching in the bigger area. She reminds me of Bluebell who was a great scratcher too.

Sparkle settled for a snooze out of the way

Sparkle moved to her favourite position on the coop roof, again out of the way of the others

The big girls enjoyed getting back into this part of the run.

Later the girls mixed on the bigger side of the run

The new girls investigate the patio area

Sparkle has discovered the big branch perch

Sparkle definitely likes to perch up out of the way. I did wonder if she would be bottom girl but occasionally she gave the other bantys a warning peck so I think she just likes to make it easy for herself and keep out of trouble.

I think Topaz may rise to top hen position. If this happens it may be a good thing as Pepper will not be at risk from a smaller girl whereas I worry more when the smaller girls get bullied.

Also we have seen no feather pulling today and I don’t think Topaz would alow anyone to do this to her. It may change in time but wouldn’t it be great if this solved the feather pulling.

The other change is that since Bluebell has left the flock Amber has laid every other day with no fuss and good shells. I wonder if the stress of Bluebell constantly chasing her caused her egg laying problems. I know it is early days yet but things seem to be going much better at the moment.

Jackie also sent me a photo of Bluebell dust bathing with her girls today. It seems that things are turning out for the best for all of us. I am so pleased with how it has gone today.

The old girls checked out the coop in the new girls side of the run but the new girls didn’t attempt to investigate either of the coops in the old girls side so I expected the new girls to put themselves to bed in their own coop which sure enough they did.

I completed my usual bedtime routine but I left the new girls run open. I will let the new girls out at half past six in the morning as usual and provided everything is as settled as it has been today I will just leave them together.

The next stage is introducing the new girls to the old girls coop but it is only the first day so there is no rush. Last year the integration took a month and this time it’s only been a week so I am really pleased at the way it’s going.