Ali James' Garden Chickens

[Ribh]

Gorgeous! I've been waiting to see your girls. I love Blues. So pretty.

 

[ValerieJ]

Charlie is clearly bottom of the pecking order, she gets pecked by everyone, not nastily, more of a reminder of her place at the bottom rank. She gets pushed off the food, knocked off any perches and bumped out of the way. She just accepts it though and backs down; she is still accepted into the group though. She has the coolest little 'hat' where she has a few longer, swept back feathers on top of her head and a quirkily flopped over comb. Hopefully she will lay us blue/green eggs. Here is a close up:View attachment 1894139

Do you have more than one water and feed station? That will ensure Charlie gets what she needs.

 

[Ali James]

Echo is a special girl! She is part Marans and lays dark brown eggs; we know this as when we opened up the front of the coop, she hopped up, went straight to the nesting boxes, scratched around, settled down and dropped an egg!! Within two hours of arrival.
Not only that, she jumped up onto the log, nudged her way in between my husband and I to say hello, walked right under our feet, came right up to us and has the cutest, musical little chatter.
The best thing though - just before she played her egg, she jumped up onto my lap, hunkered down and tucked her head in against me. She was very happy to be petted by me and my six year old! I love her!!

 

[Ribh]

Echo is a special girl! She is part Marans and lays dark brown eggs; we know this as when we opened up the front of the coop, she hopped up, went straight to the nesting boxes, scratched around, settled down and dropped an egg!! Within two hours of arrival.
Not only that, she jumped up onto the log, nudged her way in between my husband and I to say hello, walked right under our feet, came right up to us and has the cutest, musical little chatter.
The best thing though - just before she played her egg, she jumped up onto my lap, hunkered down and tucked her head in against me. She was very happy to be petted by me and my six year old! I love her!!View attachment 1894153

Wow! That is something! Most chickens are a little more cautious in new surroundings.

 

[Ali James]

Blue is third in the pecking order (Echo is second). She is also quite happy to be close to us and has a soft coo-ing chatter. She likes to remind Charlie she ranks above her, usually after being scolded herself by Delta and Echo. Blue really looks at us, like she is interested and wants to interact, but is still working us out. She also likes to laze about a lot too and spent a lot of time sitting on the ground and adjusting her position so it was just so!

 

[Ribh]

Blue is third in the pecking order (Echo is second). She is also quite happy to be close to us and has a soft coo-ing chatter. She likes to remind Charlie she ranks above her, usually after being scolded herself by Delta and Echo. Echo really looks at us, like she is interested and wants to interact, but is still working us out. She also likes to laze about a lot too and spent a lot of time sitting on the ground and adjusting her position so it was just so!
View attachment 1894155

Blue is soooo pretty!

Thanks so much for sharing. We're all a little chicken dotty on here & love looking @ other people's chickens! It looks like you have a lovely calm flock with no major pecking order issues...so when do the next lot of chickens arrive...?

 

[Ali James]

And lastly we have Delta who is without a doubt, the top ranking hen. She doesn't chase or bully, but she definitely asserts herself and everyone gives way to her. She is also the most stand offish, although by the end of the day was getting much closer to us. The other girls tend to group around her, so if she moves to a different part of the run, they all drift after her.

 

[Ribh]

Lovely! I very fond of Sussex too...actually almost any chook will do...

 

[Ali James]

At around 8pm, we noticed everyone was trying to get onto the roof of the coop and Delta kept pecking or butting everyone off. It was clear that Echo was trying to settle down for the night and no one had really worked out to go up the ramp and into the coop. They needed some help so DH and I went into the run, expecting to have to round them up and we were prepared for chaos to erupt...
DH was a bit nervous, so I took the plunge and calmly reached out, picked Delta up and 'posted' her through the door of the coop! We managed to get the others swiftly with no chasing or panic and in they all went. Surprisingly, it all stayed really quiet and I had to resist the urge to go back and check on them - didn't want to disturb them. They all looked ready to roost so hopefully they were grateful to get some shut eye.

Its been a great day!!

 

[Ali James]

Do you have more than one water and feed station? That will ensure Charlie gets what she needs.

Thanks Valerie. Fortunately no one prevents her from accesses the feed, water and grit, she has had plenty of everything. Its just that if she is drinking and someone else comes along, she has to stand back until they have had what they want and move away again before she can resume. I will continue to monitor though.