Scrambles83
Free Ranging
I like this plan! I have trouble just convincing an 11month old she can’t hatch babies with no rooster or eggs under her though so I might not be the best to listen toWhat am I going to do with Phyllis
First let me say that I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. It really did help me and I am grateful to you all for being willing to provide your thoughts. I considered a lot of things. From the two extremes lock her up with them to leave everyone alone to a lot of "half measures".
I have been accused of vacillating. In a way that was absolutely true because I had reached the end of what I had mapped out when I started this journey. It is easy to forget that the original plan called for Phyllis to raise the chicks herself. That part was not in the cards this time.
Perhaps the best way to assume they bonded would be to force them to live together in the coop and run for months. If you had seen her this morning when the door to the main coop opened before the hut you would know that I could not do that to her. She was frantic to be out with the others.
Should I rely on the Birds of a Feather process and let them be at it and choose for themselves. Who knows what might happen? It would be all up to the birds.
The Plan
What I have decided on is that I am going to give things a small push and then leave it up to them. Phyllis is already being forced out or just choosing not to roost in the main coop around half the time right now anyway. In those instances I have been putting her in with the littles for Phyllis's safety with the added benefit of them spending time together. I am now going to add moving her from the main coop on the nights where she roosts there. So every night for the next few weeks, Phyllis will be sleeping in the hut. As a means of making it a nice place in which to wake up, I will be providing meal worms on the floor of the hut, every time I place Phyllis onto the roost. Perhaps this breakfast of chicken champions will convince her it is a pretty nice place to sleep.
This is as far as I am willing to go to try and make her transition from the main coop. This solution is compromise that my heart and head will allow. In the end Phyllis will still get to choose her place and her friends. Hopefully she will hang with the new ladies eventually and live a less pecky life.
Please feel free to go on the record and tell me I am making a mistake. It does not bother me. I am wrong a lot in life. You are however very unlikely to change my mind. Unless something untoward happens, I can't see myself deviating from the plan outlined above.
so, I’m bowing out, so I don’t offend anyone 
