My little flock of seven gets along pretty well - even my little Silkie seems to be able to hold her own. But it seems that the rest of the girls have noticed, as I have, that Lucy the Speckled Sussex is personality-challenged.
Let's just say she's not the brightest egg in the basket.
The last few mornings I've been noticing chicken poop in the laying area, which is a no-no. I went into the coop after dark last night to see what was what and saw that Lucy had been banished from the roosting area and had come over to the laying area to spend the night. I picked her up and returned her to the roosting area and the others promptly reached over to give her pecks - nothing vicious, but she's so skittish that one little nip and she has a hissy fit.
So every time someone pecked her, I gave them a little wake-up-call smack up side the head. Did this four or five times until they seemed to leave her alone. When I went in this morning, the laying area was clean so it looks like she was allowed to stay with the flock for the night. I'm thinking I'll try the same thing tonight.
Do you think it will work?
Let's just say she's not the brightest egg in the basket.
The last few mornings I've been noticing chicken poop in the laying area, which is a no-no. I went into the coop after dark last night to see what was what and saw that Lucy had been banished from the roosting area and had come over to the laying area to spend the night. I picked her up and returned her to the roosting area and the others promptly reached over to give her pecks - nothing vicious, but she's so skittish that one little nip and she has a hissy fit.
So every time someone pecked her, I gave them a little wake-up-call smack up side the head. Did this four or five times until they seemed to leave her alone. When I went in this morning, the laying area was clean so it looks like she was allowed to stay with the flock for the night. I'm thinking I'll try the same thing tonight.
Do you think it will work?