Casualty and bully.

We had our first casualty from letting the Girls roam together.

Phyllis, black hen in foreground

It was Phyllis, who is 6 years old.    I saw her wandering around the garden with her beak open.  I bent down to talk to her to see what was up, and I noticed that her comb was quite dark.  I also saw blood on her wattles. 

I carried her in to the kitchen, and offered her some sunflower seeds, which she ate.   I cleaned up the blood and saw that she had some damage to the top of her head and to her wattle.  I purple sprayed the wounds (and myself a bit, oh well), and gave her some Nutridrops.

These things are to be expected when you try and integrate.

I took her back outside and she toodled off.  She's one of DH's favourtie hens because she is so friendly to him.  She's really nosey, always wants to get under your feet.  Her Dad was Henry (Roo's Welsh Black son) and her mum was one of the Welsh Black Harem.  She stands out because her shape, comb, and friendliness come from Roo's side of the family,  although she has Welsh Black colouring.




On a related theme,  I noticed that the Leghorn girls had even more scabs on their combs than usual, and Barbara had feathers missing on her head.      The huge floppy combs and wattles on leghorns make them an easy target for bullies.   I wasn't entirely sure who was doing it though, and made a mental note to keep an eye out.


In the evening I went out to shut the Allotment Girls' coop (the auto opener hasn't arrived, so I guess it won't be dispatched until all thhis COrona Virus stuff blows over) and I saw that Fay was up and her coop door had already shut.    I tried to catch her and failed,  and I went round and manually opened the coop door for her.

By this time, she was at the Youngsters coop and was trying to get in there.   Something was amiss. 

One of the Leghorns was outside on the mezzanine,  another was in the doorway with their whole body outside,  and no one was able to get in.

When I walked up, the one in the doorway tried to go in and one of the girls already in the coop went beserk and started attacking her.  The squealing was horrendousand I could hear the vbictim running around insdie the coop trying to get out of the way.     I rushed to the back of the coop to open it up, and I saw the problem.

Fleur.

She was in the coop and she was attacking anyone and everyone. Not with a bit of "oi, know your place",  but with real aggression.   I pulled her out and put her in the Big Girls coop via the pop hole.   With her out of the way, the Leghorns filed in to the coop normally.   Fay ran round to the Big Girls coop and hopped in through the door I'd left open.

Fleur is understandably stressed by the Allotment chickens,  and what it means for her in the pecking order.    I can understand why she's behaving badly, although the agression I'm seeing is worse than I expected.  I  can't imagine what she's going ot be like if and when the remaining 6 girls come home

I don't have the luxury of being able to separate her out now,  nor the luxury of taking things super slowly.

I know I'm mixing my metaphors but - her card is already marked, and she's now had strike 2.