We picked up the girls' laying hens from the 4H barn Friday night -- put them in the coop after all the hens were asleep, hoping to minimize pecking. When we checked on them Saturday morning, the new birds all had slightly bloody combs. Guess the pecking order is being worked out.
Sunday we discovered that the new laying hens are not really afraid of Petra. She barks and barks at them, and they just stand there looking at her, cocking their heads in that chickeny way. She gets so angry and frustrated that they won't react, and even angrier when they peck her nose.
Barlow (the blue cochin) and Superchick (the mottled java) spend a lot of time "herding" the layers into the cubbies. At one point yesterday, all three of them were packed into one tiny foot-square compartment with Barlow standing guard in front of them. So today, I shut the heritage chickens outside in the run just so the new girls could get to the food and water.
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