Hello!

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Well, here I am again!
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Saturday we went to the hatchery and picked up a golden buff pullet (they only had one extra). We named her Scarlett!

We introduced Scarlett and Sally in a neutral area, outside the enclosure. Well, Saturday was bad news. Sally pecked Scarlett repeatedly, and wouldn't let her eat or drink. I tried to leave them be as much as possible, but by night time, I'd had enough, and we put a partition in the enclosure, so they could see each other, but not get to each other, and gave each their own feed and water.

Sunday we let them have supervised visits, more pecking on poor Scarlett, but it wasn't as bad as Saturday. Today, they are pretty much ignoring each other, so that is a relief, I hope that continues!

The strange thing is...yesterday morning I noticed a TON of feathers in Sally's side of the enclosure. And she is dropping them at a high rate, just walking around. Every time she preens a bit, more feathers fall. Could it be stress? What could cause this sudden molt? I am wondering if the stress of her whole ordeal (being trapped on the highway, coming to our house, and then the new chicken) has finally gotten to her. She gets chicken feed, fresh water, oyster shell and grit. A few times a week she gets a bit of hard boiled egg (with some shell mashed in) as well as some dandilion greens and some watermelon or grapes. Should I be feeding her something else? Is there anything special I should do during this molt?

I'm worried about her!
 
We have introduced new pullets twice. It took some time. The first time, we also partitioned off the pen, I truly thought someone would be severely injured - After two weeks they seemed to get used to each others presence. Then for another week, we let them free range together. Total time three weeks. Just recently, we acquired two more birds. I put them together right away, and let them "work it out". I placed the new pullets in the coop only after it was completely dark. It seems cruel sometimes, but they will and do work it out. The pecking order takes weeks sometimes months to work out.

Good luck - I'm sure they will be okay
 
They are doing quite a bit better. Sally (the original) does chase Scarlett from the feed and water dishes with a peck or two, and if she is sitting somewhere and Scarlett gets too close, she chases her off. But she hasn't injured her at all, and with separate feeder/waterers at opposite ends of their enclosure, Scarlett gets to eat and drink (albeit sometimes on the run, lol!) I think they are gonna be fine.
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