(Yes I know Dickens spelled it tale.)

I have never been a huge Dickens fan so I will tell of you my chickens.
We have been having such unrest in the coop. Let me back up.

Scrawny Greta- the Hester Prynne of the the flock. (No not Dickens- Hawthorne) No she is not an adulterer. She is just a general outcast. She had been fine just happy enough foraging alone since her buddy Polly Pullet was taken by a hawk. For some reason this spring all of the other hens and Frank turned against her. This took the form of bullying her into not leaving the coop on the best days and not leaving the protection of the nest box on the worst.

I, the chicken expert, deduced that it was because her vague rooster like appearance and the urges of Frank in the spring. He didn't want competition. She, as I have discussed before is a Lakenvelder, an old breed in which both sexes have cockscombs and spurs. Could our up until now kind hearted rooster be turning to the dark side? (Star Wars) Had he started this whole unrest? Maybe but it really doesn't matter. I can't have Greta getting beat up. (All of you who are talking about pecking order and the like back off. My chickens are pets. Yes they give eggs so you may want to call them pets with perks.)

She needed to be put into the hen protection plan.

Our coop has two parts. A covered and secure outside run and an indoor coop we call the coop proper. There is a ramp connecting the two which can be closed making two separate secure areas. I know you can see where I am going with this. I put Scrawny Greta in the outside coop with Zig and Zag the ole' girls, and let everyone else stay in the coop proper.

During the day the chickens free range, unless you are locked in the covered coop and then you watch others free range. I have worked out a system where the groups switch off sometimes in the covered run sometimes out ranging. The idea was that the hens could see each other and then would somehow magically get along. I am not sure this is working.

I have begun to integrate more and more hens into the Greta group and it is going well sort of. Now I just have two big groups of hens who don't get along. I will keep you posted.