Astrid, my blood soaked Leghorn, stayed in the nestbox in the orange Cube for ages She laid an egg in there. The walls are once more soaked with blood, from where she kept shaking her head.
She came out, and wasn't too happy about being trapped in the separated run. She ate a little of the cabbage I'd put on the floor for her, and a bit of sunfolower seeds. She hadn't bothered with the scrambled egg, which was a bit worrying, so I put some of that on the floor for her, and fed the rest to the others.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle last night. Elizabeth (hatch sister to Violet and Bot) had not managed to find a bed for the night. I caught her, and popped her in the purple cube, which is where the majority sleep (and where she usually sleeps).
Astrid was hunkered down in the next box again, and I was a little worried about her.
This morning, the clocks changed.
The clock on the openers on the Orange Cube (Astrid) and the Green Cube (Norah, Katy and Fay) adjusted automatically, so they were let out at the new 7am, which was an hour earlier than they are used to. The opener on the purple cube, with the majority in, did not change. There was a lot of squabbling, as they Purplers could hear that some of the others were up and about.
I went out to check on Astrid at about 9am. She was marching up and down, eager to be let out of her confinement. I didn't let her out, I came in and had breakfast.
After breakfast, I let everyone else out into the netted outside area, and then I released Astrid. She looked much brighter. She went outside with everyone else, and I had to stand and keep watch for a while. Gloria was bullying her a bit, waiting for Astrid to start eating some grass then walking up to her and forcing her to move.
I gave her a warning with a "Gloria!" growl, and she looked at me. She knows her name, but she rarely hears it in that tone of voice.
I went on to explaine to her, in the most menacing tone I could muster, that I loved her very much. But, as much I loved her, so much that I spent half an hour every day hand feeding her lettuce and grain/seeds, if she touched Astrid, I would cull her.
DH checked on them in passing when he went out to do stuff in the garden.
I went out just now, and Astrid is looking OK. 11 of the 12 girls are out n the vey denuded patch of grass. Norah is in the main run, as usual. She hasn't been in the netted area for a long time (she does go "outside" in the fruitcage run though).
I'll go out again in an hour or so, just to see how they are, and to hang up some vegetables. I keep the chicken veg in a fridge in the summerhouse.
