{"id":7513,"date":"2014-04-15T16:27:18","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T16:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/?p=7513"},"modified":"2014-04-15T16:27:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T16:27:18","slug":"pecking-order-and-sparkles-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/?p=7513","title":{"rendered":"Pecking order and Sparkle’s improvement"},"content":{"rendered":"

I gave the girls mash this morning with some olive oil added to help Sparkle eat something that would be easier on her throat.<\/p>\n

She has already improved since yesterday. She isn’t sitting on the coop roof today and is joining in with scratching with the girls. She is eating anything that is in small bits or is soft and is drinking and pooping. The sound she has been making isn’t as loud today. I think her throat is healing.<\/p>\n

I think Topaz has moved to the top of the pecking order. She has given Pepper some warning pecks today, the sort of peck that isn’t nasty but just lets Pepper know she is now top. Pepper hasn’t contested it and walks off with a surprised look on her face as if she is thinking “how has this happened!”. Topaz has already done the same to Dotty who just side steps out of her way.<\/p>\n

Sparkle is top of the original bantys and has also given them a quick warning and they too just hop out of the way.<\/p>\n

The new pecking order is top girl Topaz followed by Pepper then Dotty, next is Sparkle followed by Amber then Honey still at the bottom and happy to stay there.<\/p>\n

This is actually looking like a good move because since Topaz has moved to the top we haven’t seen any feather pulling. Topaz puts every one in their place without any nasty behaviour and they all accept it. Also when the treat dishes of mash or fish are on the patio there isn’t the constant moving around that Bluebell used to do. Topaz and the bantys seem to use one dish and the big girls another and they just get on with it. It seems that as long Topaz can eat from any dish she doesn’t feel the need to constantly chase another one away.<\/p>\n

The flock dynamics seem to be much better with the new girls. This afternoon they were all sat together resting and all was calm with the flock united. Also although in reach of feather pulling we didn’t see any of this behaviour at all.<\/p>\n

Another bonus is that since Bluebell left the flock Amber has continued to lay every other day with no problems. It seems like the flock is much improved all round and I really feel now that I made the right decision for the flock.<\/p>\n

Today topaz discovered the nest box in the big coop. She sat in it for a while but when I lifted the lid she legged it and shouted her displeasure. She hasn’t laid yet but likes to practice each day.<\/p>\n

\"Topaz<\/a>

Topaz leaving the nest box<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sparkle<\/a>

Sparkle likes the big branch perch in the afternoons<\/p><\/div>\n

\"All<\/a>

All six girls were resting together until I got close then Honey wandered off to look in the new girl’s coop<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Topaz<\/a>

Topaz the new top hen<\/p><\/div>\n

This has all turned out so well and I am really happy with way my flock are all getting along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I gave the girls mash this morning with some olive oil added to help Sparkle eat something that would be easier on her throat. She has already improved since yesterday. She isn’t sitting on the coop roof today and is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7513"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7527,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7513\/revisions\/7527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolschickens.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}