Molly & Dolly

Twenty four hours later, our two adoptees seem to be doing fine. I had worried about integrating them into the flock, so I kept them in the run by themselves yesterday. Thankfully no other hen had to use the nest box. Although Violet was making noises about 8am, letting me know what she was about.
Molly & Dolly, as I've named them, did lay eggs yesterday. They both looked around at the nests, and decided to use the same one. At the same time. Clearly it will take some time before they feel comfortable with space around them, after living with six other hens in a 20"x20" cage for two years.

You can see Cocoa in one of the nest boxes Loi built for the hens. M&D were in the one on the left. After kicking all the pine shavings out, they went right to work laying. A hen *loves* to make her nest before laying an egg. In a cage with all metal wires, there is no nest. The laid egg plops down, and rolls along a tilted wire floor to a conveyer belt. Cold.
Last night at dusk, Cleo helped me create peace in the coop. After our regulars were in their particular place on the roosts, we put our new girls onto the roost to join them. There was calm in the hen house.

Molly has three tumors on her head. Cleo noticed them yesterday. Dolly's feathers are pretty sparse on her chest and tail. They both look ragged, and jump at any sound. They're hesitant terrified of me. sigh

But slowly they're becoming more acclimated to their new home. They walked out of the run this afternoon. I saw Molly actually taking a proper dust bath with the other hens. Dolly tried one yesterday, lying down in the soft soil, but it was really awkward. She'll get the hang of it; this is an inborn trait. The dust they kick up into their wings smothers any little bugs that might be hiding.
Isn't nature clever?
These little girls (they weigh half what Cocoa weighs!) have been debeaked.
When the girls were newly hatched, their beaks were stuck into a hot gizmo, and the end was cut. There are nerves in the beak, and it's a painful procedure.
Sometimes the tongue is cut, also. And no, the beaks never grow back.
You can see the difference between Honey's normal, sharp beak. I know from experience just how hard and sharp these beaks can be. And what painful bruises they leave.
Molly and Dolly have partial beaks. One can see how short and blunt they are. They're unable to eat what other chickens eat. They can't eat pellet chicken feed, but we give it crumbled. When they first arrived here, they must have eaten for almost ten minutes straight. Now I realize they aren't able to eat as efficiently as other hens with beaks. They've discovered the grass, but their beaks can't pull out the blades. I tried to give them raisins yesterday. Molly & Dolly weren't able to keep them in their mouth to eat them. 
Molly and Dolly enjoy preening~ cleaning their feathers with their beaks. They had no room to do this in the battery cages. They also didn't have room to stretch their wings. I *love* to see them raise up high on their toes, and stretch their wings as wide as possible. I'm expecting to see them fly short, low distances soon.
Life is good in Eden.