Princess and her chicks and poults scratching around near the nursery door.
Princess’s last chicks, dubbed Night and Galaxy, have never been accepted by the flock.
They live with the turkeys.
They have an escape route from the turkey pen to the barnyard.
As of yesterday they can escape the turkey pen but not reenter it.
This is the problem with wire escape routes.
I just staged their re-entry to the turkey pen because the Ploska Twins were chasing them and pulling their feathers.
After this tussle I went to tend to Princess and her new brood.
Princess in full alert mode. Ten seconds scratching. Ten seconds scanning the surroundings.
The ‘nursery’ is set up with heating lamp, cage for night time safety, room to roam inside for the whole brood, and an escape route for Princess to get out when she wants to have her dirt bath and visits with her girlfriends.
I kept Night and Galaxy in the nursery for a long time as it was cold out and predators at their hungriest.
Clearly there was a flaw in this plan as Princess and the rest of the flock have not accepted them.
All this to say that I decided to let the chicks out of the nursery today.
A puffed up Princess screams, "Back Off!"
Nickel immediately stepped back to an acceptable distance.
Chicken drama! Always intriguing. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
We didn’t have this much drama until we had Princess!