HI! you are very lucky!
ask the nearest lavender farm for the straw! you will have the best smelling, bug free coop/nest boxes! I'd love to be able to get lavender straw.
When you see those fields of dandelions growing and starting to flower let me know please? I know of 2-3 people who would LOVE to gather all the flower heads and make wine!
The dandelion flowers/leaves also make great feed for chickens/critters and people!
As far as your lone hen.... 2 things...
are you sure it is a hen? could it be a boy? the girls will chase the boys just before they start crowing....
and every flock or social group of animals will have the leader and the bottom.... the bottom rung animal normally is the one who is always last, chased, picked on, etc....
Some flocks are nicer then others but if you are having problems.... watch for the one doing the picking, it will normally be the head or second in command. pull them out of the flock (put in a dog crate if you have one) watch again.... anyone else picking on the poor bird? if so pull them and place in crate
once you get to little or no picking and the bird "joining" the others then let them hang out for the day or 2... let the pickers be in "time out"
then introduce the least offensive picker first.... watch what happens....
the pecking order should be redistributed and more balanced....
then release the worse offender last after the rest of the flock finds a nice happy balance.
if after returning the worst the flock goes back to the bad then you need to pull the worst again and put them in solitude for at least a couple days if you can.
Some times it can be easy as 1 time out day for the worst and sometimes it can be weeks of just letting them peck it out.
as long as no one gets hurt/damaged then it will eventually balance out
Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind for the future. I sat in the run yesterday, getting my dose of 'chicken.' Slim (definitely a girl) was up in the coop while the others were bugging me to hold plant leaves while they tore them apart. Finally I picked up Slim and sat her on my lap. The Queen Bee, Essie-Esmerelda, was trying to peck at her from underneath and then insisted on hopping up to my lap. That terrified Slim so I kept pushing Essie off and managed to keep her away while Slim got some TLC.
They all scratched in the run peacefully for the rest of the evening. At bedtime they were all together on one side of the roost.
WHEN the dandelions flower? ROFL!! OMG, when don't they flower is the better question. All the lawns were mowed recently but I'll be out and about today and will check out the area. There are fields of dandelions nearby. If word gets out that you're here there will be people lining up volunteering their yards to get picked clean.
Can you pick and freeze the flowers until you have enough or do you have to pick them all at once? I do pick the greens for the chooks but they won't eat the flowers. I could throw those in a bag for you.
My grandfather made dandelion wine occasionally. If you'all come out in the fall there will be tons of blackberries to pick as well. Blackberry wine sounds good to me!
Rainwolf - if I drop out of sight send me a PM. Life gets crazy sometimes and I have a hard time keeping track of things. But it's no trouble at all to let you know when and where the dandelions are in full bloom!
