I was watching the flock from the upstairs window yesterday. They really are "a flock" now.
There are still moments of bad temper, but mostly they get on well enough. Although their coops all open at about 7.15, we have been delaying opening access to the garden until 10, 10.15. 10.30. Even with this, there aren't too many issues - helped by the fact that we have a run in two parts, so there is plenty of space for the enemies/frenemies to keep out of each others way.
We're making them stay in later and later because a bird-flu-pandemic lockdown is imminent and,when it comes, they will have to stay in all the time. We're working on netting some of the outside area so that we can continue to give them a bit of "outside time" when this happens, but it's more complicated here in the garden than it was at the allotment. We have shrubs, and sheds, and cats, and it's not so easy to erect something.
They continue to sleep in 4 coops. Nora, our oldest girl, now sleeps on her own in little Go Up. I think she started doing this because Fleur (who has been such a bitch) decoded she wanted to sleep in "Nora's Cube" and started picking on Nora again at bedtime. Fleur hasn't been in that cube for some nights now, but Nora has continued to sleep alone.
In the Green Cube (which was Nora's Cube) in the fruitbed part of the run, we have Big Bird, either Violet or Bott, I can't tell without being able to see the leg ring, and a changing selection of one or two others.
In the Orange Cube (which was the Leghorn cube), we usually have 3 birds. It's not always the same 3.
In the Purple Cube, is everyone else. This might be 8 birds. One night it was 10 birds.
I'm happy that the birds are mixing where they are sleeping, as it means it's likely to be less cliquey overall. Of course,m I'd like them to get down to just 2 Cubes, as this would be easier to manage, and would free up the other 2 for emergencies (or future chicks, I hear myself whispering).
They've got a good amount of garden space at the moment, as they have been given DH's raised beds to explore. Looking at them, in lines and groups spread around the garden, I found myself thinking "15 isn't such a lot"
But I do remember that it's only "not such a lot" because they are all getting on. And I remember how miserable it was when they weren't.
I need to update the notes to my brother. During Covid, I had written instructions for him on what to do with the Girls (each one), in the event that something happened to both me and DH. I'd updated the instructions once (twice? can't remember) during the intervening months, as the girls started to settle down.
