In the end I left them out together right up until bedtime.
It was mostly OK. After the excitement of being in the other pen waned, the Girls made their ways back into their own areas. Tired little girls sat in a cluster in a flowerbed; Big Girls mooched around under one of their favourite shrubs.
I needed to pop out, so I had to go and put them all away. 3 of the Big Girls ran into their runl the Littlees obliged by going into theirs. Delilah wouldn't budge from under the shrub. We had a little dance around the (rather prickly, ow!) bush; she skipped around my feet; eventually I managed to corner her, pick her up, and put her in her run. She wasn't happy.
And then Milly attacked her.
Not really badly. But it was more than a gentle or accidental peck. It was a definite attack. Peck, peck, peck on the top of the head. Several times. I growled at Milly. She stopped. Well, she stopped for at least as long as I was watching.
Obviously introducing the new girls has caused the pecking order of the existing four to be reviewed, and the matronly Delilah is losing her place.
I didn't expect that.
Nature can be so horrible sometimes.
It was mostly OK. After the excitement of being in the other pen waned, the Girls made their ways back into their own areas. Tired little girls sat in a cluster in a flowerbed; Big Girls mooched around under one of their favourite shrubs.
I needed to pop out, so I had to go and put them all away. 3 of the Big Girls ran into their runl the Littlees obliged by going into theirs. Delilah wouldn't budge from under the shrub. We had a little dance around the (rather prickly, ow!) bush; she skipped around my feet; eventually I managed to corner her, pick her up, and put her in her run. She wasn't happy.
And then Milly attacked her.
Not really badly. But it was more than a gentle or accidental peck. It was a definite attack. Peck, peck, peck on the top of the head. Several times. I growled at Milly. She stopped. Well, she stopped for at least as long as I was watching.
Obviously introducing the new girls has caused the pecking order of the existing four to be reviewed, and the matronly Delilah is losing her place.
I didn't expect that.
Nature can be so horrible sometimes.
