Great advice from maggie. :) Chickens are funny...people have been so mystified about them ganging up on a weak flock member with intentions to kill, and having that flock member basically just lay down and take it, that they have done studies on it...with no clear answers as to 'why'. :( Along with Maggie's advice, I'd also allow her out when you are RIGHT THERE to supervise and play Head Roo. Have a 'zero tolerance' policy when it comes to pecking, chasing and bullying, and don't even ALLOW any other bird to get near her. Show your flock that this hen is under YOUR protection and act like a mother hen--chase away any interlopers aggressively (just a little further than you think necessary, it makes the point nicely), growl "Nooo--!" in a loud warning tone when another bird approaches 'your baby' and push away any bird that doesn't respect your position as Head Rooster. This is truly what chickens understand. There is a great page on taming roosters that also works for other chickens and explains chicken psychology in a great way here: http://shilala.homestead.com/roosters.html After you do this once or twice you should be able to step back and allow the flock to intermingle safely once again, although the hen is most likely now going to be at the bottom of the pecking order. Hope your mother in law gets well soon, good luck! :) Velvet ~:>

I took the haworthia out last night and put it back in it's old pot. I figured the soil would dry out easier that way. Today it's dry so I'm just not going to touch that guy for a little while. I have some of the Blue Giant leaves laying out on top of dry soil, and the Echeveria purpusorum is laying out, still with soil attached at the roots, to dry. I don't have another pot for it because there's another plant occupying it's old pot right now. The soil is dry and I'm going to put it in a new pot tonight. The color didnt get any worse over night or during the day today (it had been getting progressively worse before) so maybe it'll survive? As for the Sempervivum, I'm pretty sure he's a goner, but just in case, I plucked off all of the discolored leaves, and left the ones with a little color yet. That one is also un potted. Tonight some of the color is worse than it was last night, so I think it's done for. On a lighter note, I came home to a present on my door step today... a succulent garden! Apparently Monday after my boyfriend saw how disappointed I was, he ordered one from a florist and it was delivered today. As happy as I am, I'm scared I'm going to kill these, too! The first thing I did was look at the care sheet. It was blank. I know it had to have been expensive, so I'm going to try really hard not to kill them. Here are two pictures of the new ones.. anyone have id's?

ooops! Forgot to mention that grapes grow wild here. They can be a nuisance when they come up on fence lines or power lines etc. I watch them every year and try to get them when their ripe but it's futile. One day they aren't quite ready and the next the birds have already been at them. I swear that they just roost in the vines at night and then when they wake up in the morning they sniff the fruit for ripeness and then dig in! Little stinkers lol! At Thanksgiving time when my kids come for the holiday we go out and collect the vines. Then we spend an evening making them into wreaths and things and decorate them for Christmas. They love giving them to co-workers and friends as holiday gifts. MeMo

@Jean Thank you! Erineum mites, looking on the Internet, looks exactly like this, and the symptoms/spread is identical. That's exactly right. They might not effect fruit production, but all the leaves I pulled definitely will (although it's a small, relatively new plant, so I wasn't counting on much this year regardless)! I'm inclined to treat with sprays, both for garden aesthetics, and since, in practice, I'm not losing any grapes. Googling, it seems like spraying with oil after leaves fall off before the winter seems like the right treatment?