14 January

Yesterday Wilma was kept in the coop and the three little hens in the henhouse.  Having established her place at the top of the pecking order, Maude is no longer so occupied with keeping the others in line and has made firm friends with Mabel, while Goldie has been keeping her distance on her perch.  Today, all three were allowed out into the larger coop while I took Wilma off into the bush, and when I brought Wilma back in Goldie and Mabel were digging about in one corner, while Maude came hurrying up to see what Wilma and I had to offer – a small pile of leaf litter as it happens, full of tiny bugs.  Wilma seems to tolerate having small hens in the coop but when Maude and Mabel tried having a dustbath she felt this was just a little too presumptuous, and chased them back into the henhouse, where she let them dustbathe in peace. Goldie is still wary of Maude, and will only come down off her perch for something to eat and drink when Maude is out of the henhouse, so it is just as well Wilma allows Maude out so long as she doesn’t think she can just bathe wherever she wants.  By the end of the afternoon Maude had tired herself out in any case, and flopped herself down beside Mabel on the ground.