Wow! I just witnessed a pretty amazing thing. This is probably old hat for several of you… but new for our little “farm. “ Those of you who know me know I try really hard to give my flock an easy stress-free life. They get high-quality feed and fresh water, plenty of room and get supervised free range time almost every day of the year. And Avian veterinary care when needed. However, we do have one resource that’s a little bit limited, and that is a dust bath area. We had such a long rainy winter and their favorite place to bathe is outside of the pen. So I was throwing the ball for the dog, which is how we supervise the birds, have both of us out there. Suddenly I heard flap flap flap flap flap from dust bath area…
I spun around to witness Cashew and Buttercup going at it hard like a cockfight! It ended with Cashew having a firm grip on Buttercup and then chasing her off…
But cashew is the one with the bloody face. I can’t tell exactly where the blood is coming from, but my guess is Buttercup pecked Cashew she was having no part of that! Cashew went into the pen just for a couple seconds to cool off, and then came out and walked directly up to Buttercup to remind her who’s boss. Buttercup backed off. So I guess it’s score 1-0 Cashew. I’ve only seen this kind of behavior couple other times. When my first batch of littles was establishing the pecking order, then when the next batch was integrated into the flock. And after Rusty was sick and was being brought back into the flock Margo treated her like that a couple times. But otherwise, I’ve never seen it.
I spun around to witness Cashew and Buttercup going at it hard like a cockfight! It ended with Cashew having a firm grip on Buttercup and then chasing her off…
But cashew is the one with the bloody face. I can’t tell exactly where the blood is coming from, but my guess is Buttercup pecked Cashew she was having no part of that! Cashew went into the pen just for a couple seconds to cool off, and then came out and walked directly up to Buttercup to remind her who’s boss. Buttercup backed off. So I guess it’s score 1-0 Cashew. I’ve only seen this kind of behavior couple other times. When my first batch of littles was establishing the pecking order, then when the next batch was integrated into the flock. And after Rusty was sick and was being brought back into the flock Margo treated her like that a couple times. But otherwise, I’ve never seen it.
