Yesterday I decided to take drastic measures in my effort to bring my flocks back to good health and peace. After letting my birds out in the morning, I took to raking and sweeping the run and yard to remove all tidbits left over from treats they hadn't eaten and I filled all the treat pots with their feed and scattered feed out over the yard for them to scratch at and forage for. My birds were very upset at not having any treats and took to following me around constantly and nagging at me to give them a treat but of course I didn't. The sensible birds did eat at the feed but periodically came back over to me and clucked and quacked at me, wanting their treats, but the three feather eaters didn't eat any feed and even refused to forage and just kept at following me around asking for their treats. After about two hours of them following me squawking and quacking at me for treats and them keep going after Roo, along with my seeing how upset they were, I took the decision to lock them in their run for the whole day and kept myself out of sight. I cordoned off a section of the run for Roo, so they all could see her and she, them, but so they couldn't get to each other, then I filled loads of dishes with their feed and placed them around the run with their usual feeders, locked them in the run and just left them to it for the whole day with nothing to eat but their feed. In the evening, once they'd put themselves to bed, my daughter went in to put Roo to bed with the others and to lock their doors, and the ducks on seeing her came back out of their house and were quacking profusely wanting their usual bed time treat, so she herded them back in, locked the door and left them making a real fuss for ages before they settled down. This morning when I went to let them out, both the chickens and the ducks still followed me around asking for their treats but I could see a remarkable difference in them which totally surprised me how fast the change has taken place. Pedro who for the past week has constantly had her tail down and spent many occasions huddled in a corner and her feathers dull, came out bright eyed, full of energy, tail up (and has remained so) and her feathers beginning to shine again. At first she took no notice of Roo, she went out of the run while Roo stayed in the run with my while I did my routine poop picking, replenishing their bedding, cleaning their water dishes, and topping up their food dishes which they have in their hutches but after a time she decided to go out of the run, before I'd finished my chores. I heard her cry out and rushed out to find Pedro had attacked her again and had pulled out three feathers at first my heart dropped but then I realised she hadn't eaten the feathers, Roo was running across the yard with Pedro hot on her heals, so I intervened and shooed her off away from Roo who had run back into the run. Seeing Roo was unhurt, I sat out in the garden and watched, Pedro went over to the feathers she'd pulled but didn't eat them, she picked them up and dropped them again a couple of times then walked away leaving the feathers there. The feather eating female duck then went over to the feathers, she pushed them around with her beak examining them for a bit, then she too walked away without eating them and then went over to the feed I'd sprinkled on the garden and began eating that instead, while eating the other ducks joined her then shortly after Pedro joined them too and ate a good amount of the feed (neither of these two plus one of my drakes has not eaten any of the feed for almost a week and here they were tucking into it!). For a while Pedro left Roo alone and didn't seem to even notice Roo until Roo, whilst preening flapped her wing which brought Pedro's attention to her, Pedro then began to give chase but when I shouted at her to stop, she stopped and didn't go after her for the rest of the day and neither did anyone else and for the first time in over a week I again had a peaceful flock. We decided to take my grandson out to a play park late afternoon/early evening so we put Roo in her cordoned off part and locked the birds in the run (I never leave them out when we are not home) I hid behind my curtain so I could watch them for a while without being seen and I was happy to see no one fighting and the ducks leaving the girls alone and everyone having a bite to eat of the feed. When we got back it was dark and the girls had put themselves to bed but the ducks hadn't. My daughter turned on the outside light so she could to put Roo in the hutch with the others and to herd the ducks into their house and lock them all in, which gave Lilah a fright and as my daughter lifted Roo into the hutch, Lilah got spooked and ran into the nest area where the other two sleep, - the only other time Lilah went in there with them both got scared and flapped about squawking and running around the hutch but this time they didn't they didn't do anything, Roo didn't go into the nest area but popped her head and neck through the entrance (I assume looking for Lilah) and before when she'd done this Jellybean attacked her but this time she didn't, no one reacted at all, so my daughter shut and locked the door and left them to it. As she herded the ducks in, they made a fuss to begin with, wanting their usual bedtime treat but all settled down very quickly - on the whole a very good and positive day
We have rain at the moment and the weather forecast is rain for the next three days, I am hoping this won't cause us any set backs now that we have our flocks relatively peaceful again. There'll be no problems with the ducks because they love the rain but if it is too wet the girls won't venture out but will stay in the run and I was hoping not to segregate Roo anymore, so I've decided to see how they get on and if needs be I will cordon off a space for Roo again but I hope with all my heart I won't have to.
