Topaz is on the left, standing guard, Amber centre background, dust bathing in the sun and the new girls on the right, one also in the dirt. Daft Garnet ran to me when I appeared with the camera on the assumption that I only ever come into the garden to feed them!
The last couple of days have been a bit hairy. After a night on her own and separation in the day too, Topaz began to look very mopey, standing hunched up with her eyes shut. Because of the very cold nights we decided not to let her sleep on her own again but put her in with the others. They spent a good bit of Tuesday together on their little 'field' but she didn't feel up to persecuting the little ones. She had laid a soft egg on Sunday and it seemed to have set her back a bit. She has done this several times, often with no apparent problem but on occasion with this kind of mopey, poorly hen look about her. This morning though, she came out of the house to go to the feeder, lunging at one of the new girls to shift her out of the way. Back on form! Still no egg though.
It seems that the 24 hours spent together with her not feeling up to pecking has calmed things down a bit. There are still pecks, but no feather removal which she was doing initially. An uneasy truce has been achieved whereby they try not to go too near but if they do she lunges and pecks rather than jumping on and feather plucking. Relative peace returns to Hen heaven!
3 comments:
What a worry for you, hope peace and calm soon returns.
reassuring to me to know that I'm not alone in this nerve-wracking settling-in phase!
It's geting there Bilbo.
You certainly aren't alone Chrissie. Topaz is a lovely hen, really quirky and full of character. She's very unsettled by the new arrivals. They are still getting chased and the occasional peck, but generaly speaking, it's calming down. Topaz is off lay though. She's still not happy and is ruling with a beak of iron!
In a few weeks we'll wonder what we were worrying about!
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