Hens can be terrible bullies and the gang wasted no time in reminding the new girls of their status in the pecking order. We found that it was the hens with the lowest status in the existing group - Carrie, Charlotte and Scraggedy Anne - that were most determined to harass the new girls (Edna, Patty and Selma). Presumably, they felt that they'd had more than their fair share of being bullied and were desperate to move up the pecking order a little.
Having already exerted her authority over Patty and Selma during their initial week of recuperation away from the other hens, the idea of having to make a stand against a bigger group clearly didn't appeal to Edna. In fact, she seemed quite sorry for herself for the first few days. Despite having had her wings clipped, she somehow managed to escape from the area of the garden where we keep the hens and took herself off to the garden shed in protest.
I hate the whole process of creating a new pecking order but it's part and parcel of the life of a hen. Thankfully, now that a few days have passed, things are starting to calm down and the new arrivals are settling in. They seem content to accept their lowly status and have clearly decided it's just not worth the fight.
When a former work colleague called round for lunch earlier in the week, he was astonished at the notable difference between the appearance of the hens fresh from the battery farm and our existing flock. I don't think he'd realised what a toll battery farming can take on a girl's looks. If only more people had their eyes opened to what the life of a battery hen is really like, I'm convinced that they'd be put off cheap supermarket eggs for good.
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| Patty checks out the rest of the flock from the safety of the other side of the fence before she and the other rescued battery hens were introduced to the gang. |
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