4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Snoxy]

Hi

 

Apologies for posting this...sure it has been covered somewhere although when I do a search I cannot find anything that relates to it specifically

 

Out of our 3 original girls...how do i tell which girl is in charge? Is it as simple as the 1st one that goes to bed is top girl...and the one that goes to bed last is the lowest in the pecking order or the other way round?

 

Thank you.

 

Lou

[sandyhas3chucks]

she who eats first, and bops the others out of the way is charge, although her best friend no 2 chook is REALLY horrid, she does not want to loose her position at top end

[chickenNutter]

My 3 seem to be swapping round the top role? Is that normal or weird?

 

I am worried that my frizzle is intellectually challenged. I already have a cat (Fat Stan) that is intellectually challenged, Now I have a chicken too. She is always last to catch on to everything from noises associated with food, to normal routines - if I forget to 'pod' the chickens in the eglu til late - she is the one in a huddle on the doorstep in the dark, while the other 2 have put themselves to bed.

 

Still no eggs from any of them yet. (Sigh)

 

Sometimes it is hard being a Chicken-mummy

[Plum]

Well I reckon it's the one that always comes out of the house first. But if its so hard to tell they must be really comfortable with eachother.

 

Try throwing one grape at them then you'll find out.

[Snoxy]

Thank you for your replies

 

I thought our Fifi was in charge...as she was always the last one to bed (I just kind of thought she was making sure the two other girls were settled before she turned in for the night...Mother Hen?)...but now I'm thinking that I'v got it completely back to front...and that Fifi is the lowest in the pecking order because she is the one who has been free-ranging without pecking our new girls today. For the first time since our new girls arrived they haven't been running away from her either. She also went to bed with our new girls without any pecking at all tonight. Think we've made good progress in less than two weeks. Just got to work on the other two now

 

Lou

[coco]

My sussex cross Prue is definaetly top chook, she eats first, is first out in the mornings.She is the most confident of the three. Coco is second in command. Prue laid first and Coco a week later. My other silkie cross Pipa is bottom of the pack and is not laying yet. Pipa is the smallest of the girls and very nervous. the other 2 will eat out of my hand but Pipa runs away. She is also the quietest and least demanding. I.m hoping she will start to lay in the spring.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I just couldn't tell with my three. Then I got my new girls and Maisie immediately showed me who was boss .

[Jennifer Jane]

Matilda is bottom of the pecking order and always last to go to bed at night. Usually first out in the morning as well.

[CluckyBucks]

My smallest, yet oldest hen is boss and boy does she do a good job

 

xx xx

[JanTheDiver]

Tikka is my top chicken. She is first out in the morning and last to bed each night.

 

I think she likes to make sure that the rest of the brood are nicely tucked up in bed each night!

[Snoxy]

Thank you for all the replies

 

Fifi is always the last to bed...and doesn't peck or chase our new girls now

 

Cleo is the first to bed sometimes...she isn't pecking or chasing now either

 

Can't tell from which one comes out first as to who may be in charge because it varies from day to day.

 

I think Princess Leia is the top banana (sorry that's what DH calls it!!)...as she is the only one pecking and chasing still

 

Another day or so in the 'cooler' will hopefully sort her out...it worked for the other two

 

Lou X

[cluckingmad]

Mollie and Esme are top chooks in our place, but when the new girls go out with them, its the girls at the bottom of the pecking order )Pepper mostly) who have a go (think its a case of "oo goody, someone smaller/lower in the ranks than me.... PECK!")

[Valkyrie]

Apache is queen here - she spends her time looking aloof, surveying her estate and joined at the hip with Sioux (Siamese Twins they are). Sioux is second in command and dishes out the odd peck now and again, picks up her drawers and barges in like a rugby player. At the moment Apache is doing her best impersonation of a new breed "Transylvanian Naked Bottom" and is last out of the cube in the mornings. Coming out is a battle between them all - the youngsters tend to bowl over the bigger girls in a rush for the big outdoors, so no definite trend there!

[beulah59]

Gertrude is top hen ... but doesn't like free ranging on her own so always has someone with her, whereas the others are all content to go off into their own corner from time to time. Yolande is bottom hen ... gets pushed out of the way for treats etc, but usually manages to get a taste from what the others drop.

 

Bobby is always first out in the morning (on one occasion before I'd even lowered the ramp, still can't work out how!) ... Bridget sleeps at the other end of the ark from the three, though Yolande will sometimes join her.

 

We have a fig tree ... Gertrude likes them so much that the others didn't get a taste of them for the first month they were ripe (I eat a fig and then throw them the peel/stem!) but it was Bobby who took herself off to the tree on her own to eat the one ripe one within reach from the ground!

 

They are all such individuals ... not sure how we'll get on when it's time to introduce some new hens (probably not ex-batts ... I fancy a couple of Light Sussex)?

[sandyhas3chucks]

Mollie and Esme are top chooks in our place, but when the new girls go out with them, its the girls at the bottom of the pecking order )Pepper mostly) who have a go (think its a case of "oo goody, someone smaller/lower in the ranks than me.... PECK!")

Peck? peck?

Mine is more like BOP!

But what I really hate is the hang on to ear lobe or comb move!(is there no ref to hand out red cards?)

[cluckingmad]

oh yes, thats a nasty one... mine seem intent on grabbing beakfulls of feathers and relieving their current owner of them... my poor baby Freckles is coming in for more abuse than the others, shes just such a sweety and runs up to see everyone, only to be rapidly put in her place (so, this means I get to cuddle her lots, purely to make sure she knows shes ok, not at all because I thin k shes just the most beautiful little lady in the world, ever )