We woke up to a vivid illustration of where the phrase “the pecking order” originally came from, which was reinforced throughout the day. Pearl, the biggest and meanest, is firmly at the top, then Vi, Queenie and finally poor little Ida, the smallest and youngest – who spent almost the entire day in the chicken house refusing to come out.
We were actually quite worried about her by the end of the day, considering such drastic steps as returning her to the farm or possibly getting another Chalk Hill Blue of similar age and size – but we thought we’d give her a few days first to see if she settled down.
UPDATE: And she did, with a vengeance – to the point where the pecking order will probably be recalibrated in the not too distant future. Especially since Ida is still growing.