The 5 dinner girls are desperate to get into the main flock's area. They have no understanding of hen pecking - because they have grown up together, the pecking order of their group has been achieved without them realising.
Today, they tried to push past me when I went into their run to do the waterer and feed. I decided to let them - I wasn't too worried, as I'd let Henry and the Harem out onto the grass and the main area was mostly empty.
Except for Batty, who was dustbathing under one of the old coops.
She was lying there, fairly still. I had to do a double take; for a moment there, I thought she had died mid bathe. But no, she was just lying at an angle, building up for the next flourish.
The dinner girl known as Big Bird (who happens to be Batty's daughter) walked up to her, and started intently, fascinated, head down, watching.
Time stopped.
And then Batty realised that her personal space was being invaded, fflipped over, and gave chase.
...
Henry and the Harem came back in to see what the fuss was about . There were a few squabbles, but the Littlees were OK as long as they didn't get directly in the Big Girls path or beak-line.
Shortly afterwards I attempted to shoo the five dinner girls back into their own area. Four of them went in easily. The fifth, a small girl, didn't.
We had a bit of a Benny Hill chase as I attempted to walk her in to her own area. Each time I got close, she opened her wings and then ran, squawking madly. She ran through groups of Harem girls, causing them to scatter and panic as well. It made me chuckle (it was a pleasant day, so I wasn't in a rush).
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Lotti - my loopy exchequer leghorn - was her mother.
Actually, as I typed that, I had to go and check my spreadsheet to make sure that there wasn't any way that Spike (Lotti's brother, culled because he was a nasty bugger) could have been her father.
Nope. Spike was culled in October 2013.
Eventually I managed to get her to go back in her own area, and all was well.
I will miss them when they go.
