They often break into two separate flocks when ranging, Poppy and Gloria go off as a pair, and the other 3 stick together.
Late last year there was a whole lot of stuff going on, and I think that Sasha was trying to move up the pecking order. Nothing major happened, and nothing outwardly seemed to change.
Later than that, we divided the walk in run, and put the Littlees in one half with a coop to themselves. It was a coop that had been shut up and access denied for a long, long time, so wasmn't one the older girls had used for some time. Years maybe.
A few weeks ago, at bedtime, there was a ruckus. When I went out to see what was happening, I found Sasha in the nestbox of the Littlees coop. The Littlees would not enter the coop and were complaining loudly. I moved Sasha back to the big girls coop and all was well.
The same thing happened the next night. Then it seemed to quieten down. Then one evening I opened the nest box, on impulse, and found Sasha in there.
It was really odd.
If Sasha was trying to dominate the Littlees, she would have gone in the coop and barred the doorway to make it difficult for the others to enter; she wouldn't have gnone in and hidden herself away in the nestbox. I wondered if she was having problems with the Big Girls and was maybe trying to join the LIttlees flock.
But during the day, she is with the Big Girls as normal. It's just at night that she goes off to sleep in the other coop.
We don't tend to hear a fuss at bed time, so I guess the Littlees have got used to it.
During the day, they mostly live and let live. Individuals from eac flock sometimes end up next to each other in the garden, and their is little or no trouble (helped by the fact that the two at the bottom of the Littlees pecking order are very respectful to the Big Girk and move away when they appear)..
I would imagine that if we tried to force them all into one coop, there would be trouble. I guess there may come a time when we need to do that, but we will worry about that when the need arises.
happens.
