Shy Chicken, least of the hens in the pecking order

Shy Chicken is essentially the lowest on the chicken pecking order in our group of chickens. She is the smallest and easiest to bully by Bossy Chicken, and when she had the awful blowout, they didn’t really hold back.

Now she’s starting to go more raw/bald on the top of her head, and I’m worried she’s looking a bit more bedraggled around the butt and various points on her body. It could be molting – which they all did in the summer – or it could be something in the pecking order negotiations.

While looking all this up online I stumbled upon the fact that there’s actually a *financial pecking order* or Pecking Order Theory.  Basically the way it goes is, a business will raise money or pay off its bills in a certain order

– use internal money (think of this like using your savings once you lost your job)

– debt (think of this like using your credit card when your savings run dry)

– equity (think of this like selling a kidney when your credit card maxes out)

If there are any parallels to our chicken, I fear that means Shy Chicken is getting her kidneys pecked out, but Jason of course says she is fine. Will keep you posted.