There are some aspects of chicken keeping that never even occurred to me before we bought our first hens in the spring of 2012.
This definitely is one of them.
Our older hens, Plymouth Rocks Snow and Nala, have not been too tough on the two newcomers, Rhode Island Reds Hope and Nellie. Still, the Reds remain unsure of themselves, so they tiptoe around the Rocks as the pecking order settles into place.
Usually, all four hens sleep side by side on the roost in their coop, but sometimes things take an unpredictable turn. When I checked in on the hens after dusk one night recently, both Rocks and one Red were on the roost, while the other Red wandered around on the floor of the coop.
One or two nights later, I found both Rocks on the roost and both Reds lying on the floor. This did not bode well. Here’s why. The Reds had settled down directly beneath the Rocks. Chickens sometimes relieve themselves during the night. So the Reds were in the line of fire.
I decided to let sleeping hens lie, hoping that the Reds would reposition themselves after I headed back into the house.
But it was not to be.
The next morning, when I opened the coop door to release the hens into their run, one of the Reds had thin white streaks on her neck. The other sported a tiny bit of poop on her back. The deposits contrasted sharply with the hens' lustrous feathers.
After a quick rubdown with a clean, wet rag, Hope and Nellie were as good - and as red - as new. Better yet, all four hens slept on the roost that night.
