Everything is going much better; thank you Backyard Chicken Forum!
Rather than trust in the not-so-knowledgeable knowledge of that bad feed store I went to some of the best possible advisers--first, HERE--and second, I discovered that one of my neighbors who owns the local grocery market has been raising chickens of all sorts for years and she was more than willing to have a look at my bunch. Thank goodness, I have ONE rooster and one particularly "feisty" hen, I'm told, who is definitely going to be "ruling the roost" as it were.
Now that the gang of 5 Easter Egg/2 Ameraucana chickens are outside, her directed abuse towards my rooster, Lucky, has switched to
all the chickens ... lol. Still, no blood spilt and no feathers torn; I'm told it's fairly tame and regular and could actually be much worse. So, they are just working out their pecking order and I'm very glad to see that Lucky is starting to stand his ground a bit and is even trying to "defend" some of the other girls against the big bully, Jezebel, by putting himself between her and they, which is cute. Everything is as it should be and all of the chickens love scratching in the yard and huddling together in a pile at night like everybody gets along. My favorite hen, Temperance, is even roosting without being shown how! The others, not so much but that's okay. They're still young and I'm sure they'll figure it out sooner or later.
I'm so glad I found this forum which led me to seek the chicken "expert" down the road. Thank you for all your help with this chicken question. I have no doubts that there will be many more to come! Now that the panic is over I can work on uploading pictures of my group and working on my profile. Thank you all again ... I am much happier and knowledgeable and my--very lucky to be
one--rooster, Lucky, is too!
