This has all been a bit surprising. When the new girls were separated from the existing flock it was Speckles that did all the ruff raising and showing off at the wire while Butterscotch took no notice of the flock at all. It looked like Speckles was getting ready to move up the pecking order.
Once all the girls were together it was a totally different story. Butterscotch had a proper go at Toffee and had hold of her feathers. Toffee didn’t contest her at all and Emerald was wary of her and stayed out of her way. Maybe Butterscotch is brighter than she looks because she went for the middle girl (Toffee was third out of six) and she definitely came out on top.
The weird thing is that Peaches and Barley who were bottom girls have tackled Butterscotch and have come out on top. Over the last few days they have each come up behind her and held the back of her neck causing Butterscotch to squat down in the submissive position.
I have never had this sort of pecking order before. It seems that Butterscotch is now above Toffee and Emerald in the pecking order (who are middle girls) but is below Peaches and Barley (who are bottom girls).
Speckles on the other hand seems to have gone right to the bottom. Barley (bottom girl) is the only one other than Topaz who raised her ruff to her since they have been together and Speckles backed down. Since then she has kept out of the girls way. She is the most wary of both the girls and of me. Butterscotch has proved to be the braver of the two with the girls and with me.
I think it goes back to what I call bottom girl syndrome. Speckles as bottom girl (rather than trying to rise up the pecking order as I first thought) did the most showing off behind the safety of the wire.
Peaches and Barley as bottom girls have done the most showing off both behind the wire and once integrated. Topaz only had to prove herself top hen behind the wire and once when integrated and now has kept her top hen status uncontested.
Now that Peaches and Barley have proved that Butterscotch is submissive to them they are happy to share a dust bath with her and rub along. Speckles however keeps herself to herself and doesn’t yet have the confidence to mix with the flock. She continues to stay close to Butterscotch though.
I am sure in time her confidence will grow. It is interesting to see the changes among the flock but pleasing that they seem to have got it sorted out quickly with no blood shed.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
We both seem to have got it wrong . I would have said that speckles was going up the ladder so to speak .
Over the years I have come to realise that taking a long time or a short time over integrating makes no difference. I would rather get it over with .
When I adopted Blossom from you everyone said..” One to a flock..oh no” .. It was not a problem .
I think what we saw as wanting to rise up the pecking order was actually the bottom girl syndrome. I think what is interesting is that Toffee and Emerald are not aggressive girls but were higher in the pecking order than Peaches and Barley simply because they joined the flock after them as six week old chicks. This meant that they just accepted the bottom ranking whereas now they are adult girls they are ready to fight for their position. Bottom girl never wants to stay at the bottom when new girls arrive.
I too would rather get the integration over as quickly as possible. As time has gone on I have mixed them more quickly. Once they have got the initial spats out of the way I feel it’s best to move it on.
WOW! You’ve got a lot of action at your home lately! I would have thought that the girls would still have a go at each other, but it’s funny that they now are friends in the dustbath.
Butterscotch has some Sussex in her…and they can be pretty independent from experience. 😉
It’s funny but although they shared a dust bath Peaches and Barley will still come up behind her and put her in the submissive posture but then again I just saw Topaz do that to Barley. Barley stooped to the submissive posture but as soon as Topaz walked past she sprang up and carried on with what she was doing. I think they do this to avert aggression and make their life easier.