Nightengale is a beautiful silver gray alpaca. She is the matriarch of our herd and a wonderful mom. But she is obesessed with the chicken's grain. I first noticed her preoccupation when we moved the coop into the large paddock that the female alpacas graze in. It took a bit of time before we could fence off a space for the poultry. Every day when I let the alpacas out into their field she would immediately run toward the coop and stick her head into the grain feeders and greedily gorge herself. The chickens would see her coming and clear out. One day I went to the barn to find her trapped in the coop! She was pacing back and forth. (As in the above picture). Clearly she was not happy but this did not deter her from running straight for the coop every morning. Last week we finally put a gate up and now Nightengale is not able to venture into chicken territory. When I go to feed the chickens or to get the eggs she will attempt to enter through the gate but a sharp "No" from me and a wave of my hand will halt any temptation. She hangs her head and runs back to the herd.
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