Do you remember me telling you 10 days ago about my neighbor Girly Girl, giving back Buff the annoying wayward chticken? Well, after a tough week of Black Fatty chasing her around and pecking at her every 10 minutes, Buff has finally been accepted back into the flock.
When she first came back, no one wanted to hang around her. At all. It was kind of sad, and I thought for sure we were going to have to get rid of her.
But then she got lucky. Black Fatty went broody about 3 days ago and there hasn’t been any trouble since. And since chickens tend to sit on their “eggs” for about 30 days or so, we should be able to enjoy some peace and quite around here for a bit.
Let’s just hope that when Black Fatty decides to get off the nest, she will forget about how much she doesn’t like Buff.
So what do you think? Has this ever happened to you? Do you think Black Fatty will forget all about it?
Looking for a book on how to keep chickens out of your yard? Check out Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard
Lena says
Hmmm… I hope so. I just added 3 four week old bullets to my 9 week old flock and they are NOT being well received. But its only been 3 days.
darlene says
Geesh, good luck. I have a Buff Orphington that is broody ALL THE TIME! :/ She has been broody since Spring, despite being caged, locked out of the chicken house, etc. She certainly is not “earning her keep” since we don’t hatch eggs and she won’t lay when she is broody. I think the 30 days of being broody is a myth, maybe it just applies to chickens that are really going to hatch eggs. The heavier chickens seem to get broody a lot. My Astralourps (sp?) also get broody often but seem much easier to “break” of it. Best of luck to you. I will be excited to see if you figure something out 🙂
Mari the Kiwi says
They don’t call it pecking order for nothing. They can be very bullying at times but once they learn their place in the ‘pecking order’ they are usually ok. New entrants to the flock often get henpecked till they get sorted. Doesn’t usually last long. A blast with a water gun at the offender can help. Works for stray cats too.
Huey says
This is sort of a chicken soap opera! Tune in tomorrow.
Desi says
Poor Buff!
Tanya Peila says
I requested that book from the library! I need to figure out something my 8 chickens ate my garden this year because my 3 year old likes to let them out of their run everyday. I even have a child gate around part of it and now they just fly over it. Even with clipped wings! I also need some help with fly control. They are out of control in our run!