2 February

This has been a social weekend for the hens, although perhaps they don't consider humans as society.   I was surprised to discover my first fine hens, the Rhode Island Reds, were shy of people they didn't know, having thought I'd tamed them - turned out, I'd only tamed them to know me, and a few other favoured people.   I was quite pleased, actually.  These were magnificent birds who roosted in the tallest tree on the property, and in the morning would fly down with a tremendous rush of wings when they saw me.  Maude and Mabel, however, were only a little uncertain when I brought new people into the coop yesterday, and were soon eating birdseed out of anyone's hand.  They liked Ames best, who is small, and stood back at first, then crouched down at hen-height and held his hand out very still.  Wilma and Brownie ran and hid, and were no braver today when another round of visitors, with an even higher ratio of poets to non-poets, were invited into the coop (I am sorry not to have any photos of poets in the coop which would make quite a good instagram hash-tag if there isn't one already (I just checked - there isn't)).  Wilma has been hiding in the smaller hen-house quite a lot in any case, but today took it even further, squeezing herself into the narrow space behind the hen-house, between the hen-house and the outside of the coop, where there isn't quite room enough to turn around, so she had a hard time getting out again.   She has been growing more and more submissive, and today I saw Maude aim a peck towards her for the first time, when Wilma at last, shyly, took a step towards the food bowl.  I had thought Wilma's deference towards Maude was coming from Wilma's own social anxiety, but perhaps this is not the first time Maude has let Wilma know she needs to be treated with respect.