Three Is A Magic Number

Egg production has tripled over the past two weeks, from 6 to 12 and now 18 eggs in a week.  The obvious conclusion to draw from this is that three of the hens are now laying almost daily, which suggests that a few more eggs may yet still be on their way. So I'm now in the happy situation of having more eggs than I can get through on my own and can distribute free eggs to those people who've been kind enough to let me have supermarket egg cartons that they would otherwise have thrown away.  (It must be one of the spin offs of us living in a recycling culture now that people think nothing of saving empty egg boxes, although we used to collect old cereal boxes for school from time to time when I was a kid). However I've also become more aware of a problem that my ex wife alerted me to when she was tending the chickens while we were away in Tenerife.  It seems that there is a Gang of Three operating within the group, with one chicken being picked on by the others as a result.  One of the two white-tailed chickens (Angie) seems to be the dominant one, and Penny seems to be hen pecked by the others. The hens generally lay their eggs mid morning and Angie was clucking loudly away, which is the only time they generally make any noise unless they're alarmed by something.  A plastic football in the garden was a source of distress to them every time the wind got up and blew it across the lawn, but that irritation was removed when my son took a kitchen knife to it.  It seems that a visit to the nesting boxes necessitates some urgent clucking by Angie, who seems to have assumed this role in the absence of a cockerel.  Although I've just read a website that suggests that if I spend enough time in the garden with them then I'll be the dominant one, so we'll have to see. There is obviously a gang culture operating, with Penny chased away be the other birds.  Sometimes they'll be sat in the sun having a dirt bath while she's at the other end of the garden on her own.  What it's like to have no mates!