Re-naming of Chickens

This is a late post.  One chicken was re-named, then a second.  We'd
confused the two because they were the same size and very nearly
the same color--and they both pecked. And the other chickens steered
clear of both.  Blondie was the first to buck them.  Oneof them pecked
her ,and quick as a flash, she returned the favor.  That chicken  backed
off.  I started thinking about that and decided to change our strategy.
Blondie became the good chicken she is because she got extra treats,
extra holding and petting.  She blossomed.  We started with a re-naming
ceremony.  No more Pecky!  The darker one became Henny Penny.
She was nervous about being fed by hand at first, taking a quick bite and
running with it, like she didn't trust us or the other chickens.  I was deter-
mined to see that part of the problem changed.

The second chicken became Mercy,  She was the gentler of the two.
We worked together on this including them equally in the flock,
and what a change it made.  They both started seeking us out--
wanting attention from us and as that happened, they became nicer
happier chickens.  When Henny Penny was recovering from a
crop problem, she was quite irate towards the flock.  I simply removed
her, picked her up, and walked around with her, until she was calm.
She did have reason for her irateness. She'd been unable to eat for over
24 hours.  We kept her inside and she recovered.  Got her tail feathers
cleaned by me and had clean water always.  She didn't want to go
outside; she was so quiet, never made a sound.  Slept and rested all day
long.  She did drink plenty. Same thing happened with Mercy a few weeks
later.  She got the same treatment.

During that same period, some form of predator nearly got Henny Penny;
when the rest of the flock would go foraging, she would hide.  The entire
flock limited foraging for nearly 3 weeks, so whatever it was, it scared all
of them.  I tried to stay at home if he was going to be gone so that they
would feel a bit safer.  They all forage now but for as long or for as far
as previously.

All for now

Kate Thorn