If you’ve been following our story about the new coop, you’ll be proud of me.
They’re in!
Thanks to all the good advice I got from readers, I figured out how to get the birds in there. I locked up the old coop before sunset, threw a whole bunch of hen scratch into the new one and then took advantage of their confusion at bed time. Confusion made them easy to pick up and put in the new coop, and hen scratch made it easy to keep them there.
You can tell I don’t come from a family of chicken-keepers, can’t you? It’s clear I grew up in the suburbs.
Marshmallow eyes me through the coop window. She would be mad except after 3 days of solitary confinement, I think she’s glad to have company. That’s Blonde Chicken in the background.
That’s the Good Chicken News. Or, since Marshmallow is the “Bad Chicken”, maybe it’s the Bad Chicken News.
In other news, Roxanne Chicken remains in the garage. I tried to put her in with the others, but we had some trouble.
Roxanne would like to be a House Chicken, perhaps with a parakeet friend. I think she got the idea from the House Cats.
Roxanne has been staying in the garage for a few days, since the nighttime temperatures were around zero. I found her shivering a couple times and figured she was too cold for the coming high desert winter night.
Her shivering may have had something to do with feather loss. I knew Marshmallow had been pulling out her feathers at night, but didn’t realize how many until Roxanne shook herself out. She lost all her tail feathers and has bald spots around her wings! She looks ragged, like the Reds do when they molt.
Roxanne likes the garage coop. It doesn’t get much below freezing in there.
The weather was a bit warmer yesterday and I put her back outside. She spent the whole day in the coop, hiding from the other chickens. When night fell I put the rest of the flock in the new coop, in reverse pecking order. Roxanne was alright when I put Blonde Chicken in with her, but Specklehead’s arrival spurred her to come flying out, squawking and knocking over the water bowl.
I put her back in. She ran downstairs, into the run below. I talked to her about the importance of having a flock, but when Specklehead came downstairs, Roxanne started throwing herself against the mesh wall and squawking in terror.
Sure enough, Specklehead attacked her.
I couldn’t leave her there, terrified and upset. I know it’s part of chicken social behavior, but it’s my household. I’m the Head Chicken and I like peace.
I opened the door and she hopped up into my arms. We went back in the house, had a soothing bowl of warm water and went to sleep.
“Don’t fret,” I told her. ”Just sleep, grow some feathers and rest. We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.”
Tomorrow is another day.
****
© 2013 Hungry Chicken Homestead
Shared with …
How old is Roxanne? What breed too, leghorn or Calif white? You might want to examine her for cataracs like our Cloud girl and her sister Gemini both developed at age two. Some were worse than others but it keeps them from being able to protect themselves against the other chickens and the others see the weak link as a preditor magnet. Plus these breeds are just naturally very high strung and made to not have much freedom and space. Makes them a bit reverse stir crazy. Aaaahhh!!!!the world is going to get me!!!!! Ya know. We would be happy to offer Roxanne a new home if she doesn’t pick on Cloud or Mocha, they could use the extra body heat. If it comes to that.
She’s a California White! You guessed it! How can you tell if they have cataracts? She’s seemed happy during the last two days roaming around the yard, but at night she wants to come in. Specklehead attacks her and Marshmallow pulls out her feathers if she stays in the coop. She likes to stay away from them, which is possible in the yard, but not in the coop.
We are leading parallel chicken lives. My poor Louise runs after me every time I leave the barnyard, “Please don’t leave me here with all these mean hens and that horrid rooster!” is what she seems to be saying.
Good luck – Roxanne is a lucky hen to have you!
Awww, what a sweet, sensitive chicken mama you are. I’m so sorry for poor Roxanne.
Hopefully things will work out soon and she can get back to being part of the flock, poor baby.
Thanks for sharing at the Farm Girl Blog Fest!
~Kristi @Let This Mind Be in You
aww poor chicken. She just likes being near you. She likes you better than her chicken buddies.
Janice
I think she does like me better, but then I never peck her. She’s such a sweet chicken. I wish I could let her just hang around the house and cluck to me.