So let's talk about what you have to work with for integration.
- Does the flock free range at all? Is snow cover preventing it?
- Can I get some good photos showing the layout of the coop and run in detail?
- How much time do you have to available to spend directly observing the flock? How cold is it? (I did my last integration in February however it was a mild Feb in 2020.)
- What is your roosting situation? How crowded is the roost?
That will give me a start in understanding what we have to work with as we build a plan.
Myself, I would just integrate her and keep her at this point. I don't think any of the other rescuers care one bit about her and she is now attached to you. Even if she has issues with the flock, and she may not, she will have you to support her, much like Phyllis has me.
Thank you, Bob! I have been making a pdf of the layout and will send photos too and what I can. Their coop really holds only 4-5 large breeds and there's no room to get away. The roosting area is not very big at all.
I have hours every day to observe them; we go skiing or for a walk which takes 2 hours or so, and there's household chores to do, but I am basically retired at this point - my day gig ended the work I was doing remotely and there's no live music work at present. It's been in the teens, but today warmed up to 32F.
They would free-range when I'm out there to supervise, they tend to circle the coop and run, but not now with even just a thin layer of snow, they don't like to walk on it. They stand on the edge of the door looking out! When there was some green not long ago they went around it and over to the garage/barn to nibble.
I will appreciate your guidance but confess that because it was so warm out today I put her in one end of the run today with a divider, heated water, and food as a temporary setup. I hope it doesn't doom anything for the future top do that?
The Buckeyes were curious, then they all ran to the other end under their coop and stayed there until I threw a tiny bit of scratch on both sides of the divider, and was in there working on a part of the run, and they came over. She really loved it when the Buckeyes were near; they maybe not so much, but she was scratching and digging right next to the fence divider. A little while after that I noticed she was having a dustbath in that hole, she was doing that for quite a long time. She seemed quite content. The Buckeyes got on top of their log that I put next to the divider and watched her from above, but also got on her level pecking around next to the fence too.
Later on I set up the cat carrier on two buckets in the bump-out as a temporary roost for her, with extra shavings and hemp bedding. It's not high enough. I was sitting with them for a long time, I had finished setting up a second fence above the first one to keep her from flying over the first one, and didn't get to the dog crate, which I think I could attach to the run frame, up in the air. So I went with the cat carrier on buckets.
The Buckeyes went to roost, interestingly one ran to Queenie and then back to the coop, doing that twice. Was she trying to tell Queenie to come roost? Was she making sure the interloper was not a threat? Queenie made roosting sounds and looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to get up on to me, she's been flying on to my shoulder from the brooder; this morning she did that as I was brushing my teeth.
So I said OK, but she went for my head and unfortunately scrambled up my face and glasses, and I got a good scratch on my forehead and - the same toenail I think - scratched the side of the bridge of my nose right next to my eye. That was a near disaster. Newbie mistake! I've washed them out well, applied neosporin and my DH has repaired my glasses nosepiece, but I have to wear them like reading glasses for the next while. I sat there a little bit assessing what happened and feeling some blood come down. She actually did end up on my shoulder eventually, so I gently got her and put her in the too-low carrier and latched the door to it. She didn't want to go in there, then turned around a few times and sat down. It's very sheltered where it is. So tomorrow is another day.
