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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Reintegration Success

Pile of Chickens

Our six girls in a chicken pile. I had to take this through our kitchen window so I didn't disturb them. There were a lot of happy sounds coming from them this morning.

We started reintegrating Elsie by allowing her to be with the others when they were all outside foraging. She would stick by herself and for the first few days we had continuing to sleep inside. The space allowed her to talk to the others, but also be able to get away from them if she needed to.

After a couple of days we allowed her to be in the pen with the others for a short time before letting them all out to forage. We allowed the time she spent with them in the smaller area to get longer and longer, and though she was getting picked on, after the first few days it wasn't too bad so we told her she would need to start sorting it out for herself.

Within a couple of weeks she had started to climb the pecking order, but she had learned some bad habits from inside. She now makes such a noise at bedtime - she got used to letting me know when she wanted the lights off and her pen covered with the blanket and I think she still expects me to be able to turn off the sun.

(written on 11/April/2011 and backdated - sorry for the long hiatus)