What made you happy today?

[Sally PB]

A friend of mine got out of the hospital today.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

The hen at the bottom of the pecking order in our flock was being bullied so badly she wasn't getting any food. We had to put her in a pen by herself so she could eat.

We are slowly trying to integrate her into a group of three hens that live in the pen next to hers. Each day we put them together in a "neutral ground" pen where they're separated by hardware cloth so they can't peck at her. She's on one side and the three hens are on the other.

At first there was a lot of growling and flaring cape feathers and stink eye and pecking at the divider. That eventually stopped. Today was the first day that they spent time together without any obvious signs of conflict! At one point she was standing next to the divider grooming herself and one of the other hens lay down next to her on the other side of the divider.

They are coming closer to tolerating her, I hope. I'm so glad. She hates to be alone and I don't blame her!

To follow up on this... they'd been sharing that neutral ground separated by hardware cloth for a little while without conflict. Today we built a small enclosure for the one hen inside the three-hen-pen. Now they'll all be living in the same pen and perhaps most importantly all roosting on the same roost, just separated by the hardware cloth.

The hen who is at the bottom of the pecking order is so happy! We moved them all in together just before dusk so they were ready to hunker down for the night. Her old familiar nest box and food/treat/water dishes were already there for her. She immediately jumped up on the roost. "I'm ready for bed! Where are the others?" We put the three other hens on the roost on their side of the hardware cloth. No one had any objections. We'll see how they do in the morning but for now they're all sleeping peacefully.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

Our youngest and maybe our list child lost his first tooth today! It was a happy/sad moment! Praise LORD JESUS for the blessings he has given us we are more blessed then we ever deserved!

 

[tripletfeb]

At Costco, the Princess bought a 3.8# rotisserie chicken for $5 and a beautiful large Poinsettia for $16. I don't understand how either could be sold for that price and garner a profit. Anway, that made me happy.

Costco makes their profit from the membership fees

 

[EmmaDonovan]

To follow up on this... they'd been sharing that neutral ground separated by hardware cloth for a little while without conflict. Today we built a small enclosure for the one hen inside the three-hen-pen. Now they'll all be living in the same pen and perhaps most importantly all roosting on the same roost, just separated by the hardware cloth.

The hen who is at the bottom of the pecking order is so happy! We moved them all in together just before dusk so they were ready to hunker down for the night. Her old familiar nest box and food/treat/water dishes were already there for her. She immediately jumped up on the roost. "I'm ready for bed! Where are the others?" We put the three other hens on the roost on their side of the hardware cloth. No one had any objections. We'll see how they do in the morning but for now they're all sleeping peacefully.

Things are going well. Everyone is calm and quiet. Two of the hens are laying down right next to hardware cloth that separates them from the bottom-of-the-pecking-order hen (the third one is in their nest box). They might have laid down there anyway but it's nice to see they aren't avoiding her or anything and feel comfortable there.

I'm sure roosting together on one roost has had a good impact on the four of them. I think in chicken minds that means "we are one flock." Their food cups are right next to each other (on opposite sides of the hardware cloth) so they're eating together, too.

If all goes well over the next few days (maybe a week?) we'll open the door that lets them be together and see what happens. I don't mind if she is the bottom ranking of the four of them as long as all four consider themselves a group.

Despite the fact that they all grew up together there are HUGE personality problems among our twelve hens. We've been trying to sort things out with different groupings and different pens and it's been an ongoing mess for the past 20 months, ever since we got them as chicks. Integrating these four would be a big step forward.