We have now had Butterscotch and Speckles for three weeks. They have settled quite well into the flock but are still a bit on the outside at times. Speckles is definitely very much the bottom girl and is still quite nervous of the girls and of me.
Butterscotch is more laid back and has shown Toffee and Emerald that they are below her and also shows Speckles occasionally that she too is below her. Yet Peaches and Barley who are below Toffee and Emerald are very much above Butterscotch and will chase her away.
Sometimes I see “pay it down” behaviour, as I call it. Toffee will have a peck at Emerald who in turn will then Peck at Peaches and she in turn will take a quick peck at Butterscotch. It really does look like they are passing it on.
Honey goes after Butterscotch the most though. Topaz as top girl has no need and a glare is usually all it takes for her to intimidate. Honey is determined to hang on to her second position in the pecking order. She sees no threat from Speckles so doesn’t bother with her but she realises Butterscotch is more of a threat to her position so she chases her and will hang on to her back or pull the odd feather from her back.
Butterscotch has turned out to be a really good egg layer. Within a week of being with us she had started to lay and has now laid ten eggs in the last thirteen days. She has already taken over Topaz’s record of six eggs last year and eight eggs this year.
When Butterscotch lays her eggs she comes out shouting and is by far the loudest girl we have. It’s lucky that it seems only to be laying her egg that gets her shouting because she is probably louder than a cockerel! I have yet to hear a hen louder than her.
Butterscotch about to lay her egg
She looks so sweet in the nest box. The patch of downy under feathers on her back is where Honey has pulled some of the outer feathers from her. It’s lucky that she is so fluffy.
A few days ago Honey and Butterscotch both wanted the same nest box and were making quite a fuss about it. When I next checked Honey was in the left nest box and Butterscotch was in the right nest box with four long feathers by her so I think there had been a skirmish and Honey had pulled her feathers out. Butterscotch didn’t seem bothered by the incident and soon got her egg laid.
Speckles on the other hand hasn’t laid any eggs and it soon became apparent why this is. Speckles is moulting and every movement leaves a trail of feathers. She leaves feathers in the dust bath and there is always a little heap of feathers under her position on the perch overnight.
Yesterday morning Speckles had only two tail feathers left and by the afternoon she had only one tail feather left.
Speckles has only one remaining tail feather
She doesn’t look bad considering how many feathers I am picking up every time I go in the run.I love the way her fallen feathers have a little white tip which makes up her speckles. You can see this on her remaining tail feather.
Despite being bottom girl she always roosts on the top perch with the rest of the flock whereas Butterscotch roosts on the top rung of the ladder. This is because Speckles is tiny and agile and manages to find a space at either one end or the other of the perch.
Butterscotch is bigger and heavier and can’t usually find a big enough gap on the perch to squeeze into.
It will obviously take a little more time for the new girls to be completely part of the flock but I am happy with the way it is going. I would like to see Speckles less nervous, especially around me, but I remember Toffee being the same when we first had her. I know that these things take time. All in all though it is going well and having a good egg layer is definitely a welcome bonus.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I was thinking that as speckles is moulting it could be one of the reasons she has stayed well back . As you know when moulting it takes it out of them and she might just not feel like joining the gang yet but when the moulting is over it could all change .
I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe she will be braver when she is finished moulting. She is really nervous though, of the girls and of me. She is difficult to photograph as she doesn’t let me get near her but I managed that photo of her as she was on the perch in the shed. All the other photos of her were of her tail as she ran from me.
Seems to be going really well, and delighted that you have acquired a good layer in Butterscotch. About half of mine are now moulting; we’ve been getting only a couple of eggs each day and probably by October none at all. Jackie may well be right about Speckles – the moult is really energy-sapping; at least she’ll be through it before we get much colder weather. Think I read something somewhere that Anconas’ plumage comes in with less white speckles after they moult – then again, maybe it was with more! It’ll be interesting to see.
Yes energy sapping and also often gives them a loss of confidence too so she may feel better when she is through it. Emerald and Toffee have already got their moulting done and I am finding just the odd feather from Peaches and Barley.
I think I read that their feathers come back with more white speckles but I will have to go back and check now. As you say it will be interesting to see.
I have just put out another post as Speckles has just lost her last tail feather.
The picture of Speckles head on makes me giggle!
It’s good the Butterscotch is laying eggs, and not really minding the feather picking.
Oops, wrong post!
Wrong post, no problem, I know what you mean. Yes I only included that photo because she looks so funny and makes me smile.
I am so pleased to have a good egg layer and Butterscotch is a pretty chilled kind of girl.