Birds of a Feather .......

I look back at each time I've introduced new chooks to the brood and remember how hard it can be.  It was OK when Doris came along because I hadn't had Penny & Hetty for very long and they were only young so they accepted her quite easily.

With Mary and Tess it was harder because the pecking order had already been established.  Penny was firmly in charge of Hetty and then Doris just kind of did her own thing.  If you read the notes on Mary & Tess you'll see that I did everything possible to make their first night the success it was but it wasn't easy.  Oh how it rained and how I worried.  They were so out of touch with their natural instincts that the next day Tess laid an egg while she was walking along.  She had no idea she was supposed to snuggle down and find the right spot.  It just popped out and she hardly noticed.  It was heartbreaking to see.

Then of course it was time for the little ones - Helen and Joan.  Here they are in deepest winter with their sweatshirts on.  Joan is in the main picture and there's Helen's bottom on the right - red raw.  It's now full of feathers and she loves to show them of.  Again, you can read up on their arrival on their page but it was a very long drawn out process getting them integrated with the others because they slept inside for a few months as the weather was so bitterly cold (remember the winter of 2010).  Mary was the worst one.  She would litterally jump on them and peck feathers out of their heads.  Sometimes I even had to pull her off. 

When it was warm enough for them to sleep outside I would leave them in the run hoping they'd go into the bedroom but as dark fell I'd creep outside to check on them and they'd be standing at the gate waiting to come in.  I'd take them into the bedroom, put them on the perch and settle them down then make my own way out.  By the time I reached the gate there they were behind me.  "We don't like it here mum - they bully us".

Eventually they realised that was where they slept but Helen steadfastly refused to go with the others.  She settled down in the Play House (see article on Feathers Lodge, 6 August).  Once she was asleep I'd carry her into the bedroom with the other girls and eventually she got the hang of it.

Now they work as a team.  There was a shot the other week of them all resting in the sun while Penny stood guard.  She's the biggest one and still leader of the pack.





After all the traumas just look at them now, a real team.  When there's a strange noise they all stand bolt upright and check out what's going on. Then they have their afternoon nap and preen together.