When fall came.....we were all content with the hierarchy. We got along and that's what mattered. There was always a small thing here and there, like any relationship, you had to work at what was important. Getting along was important.
I happened to go through a very rough molt. I lost most of my original feathers and when the new ones came in it was very painful. I never made a complaint though. I just waited for Mom to come out and when she did come out to give us our special treats, she would come over and look me over to make sure I was alright. I suffered with tender skin and many feathers coming in that I didn't expect. My skin on my bottom area was very red and raw. I didn't do much and Ruby always stayed by my side. Unfortunately I also injured my right leg and couldn't jump up on a roost or anything. So basically, I was an invalid chicken. Ruby was my lifesaver, she would run off with the other chooks,(after all she had to make sure they were in line) and then always come back to make sure I was OK.
Then Dorothy would come by and keep me company too. The three of us would preen and talk about this and that. It was fine.
Mom would come out and rub an ointment on my skin to ease the pain. I was always a little slow with running around, but now I was REALLY slow. But Ruby & Dorothy always ended up hanging out with me.
The back door was the main attraction area. That's the door Mom would come out with a paper plate with goodies! So we all waited for that!
We would preen and watch til she came out. That's me in the middle with the short beak.
After some time I started to heal with my leg. But the feather thing was tough. I ended up getting a butt load of feathers in areas I thought was covered, but no, I'm getting DOUBLE the feathers! So it took me twice as long to fill out. And twice as painful. When I was going through my molt, I stopped my egg laying. Mom understood and said for me to relax and grow my feathers and take it easy. When you're ready to lay....then you're ready! No problem. ........... I love you Mom
. I got special treats too, when the others weren't looking, as it was very hard for Mom to give me a treat without the others knowing about it! She learned to be pretty sneaky.
One day we got a snow storm that blew so bad that even though Mom wrapped our runs with heavy duty plastic, it blew 2 feet of snow stuff all into our run area ! Our two runs were connected and the younger ones were in one coop and we older ones were in OUR coop. But with the snow, a drift of 2 feet was in the run blocking the entry to the "little coop". Which meant the little ones had to roost with the big ones! And they did!
The next day, the younger hens went out. We did not. We knew what that stuff was and we weren't interested.
In the last pic you can see how Tallulah has become the head hen with the younger ones. Just look at the way she carries herself!
