My First Chickens!

[3KillerBs]

Much less chicken rodeo tonight. DD helped.

Instead of having to chase them down and capture them she could just scoop them up because they were going to sleep in a pile by the door of the run.

 

[3KillerBs]

I wasn't home when the storm struck yesterday afternoon. I was at work sitting out in it (I attend a farm stand). I texted my DH who had the 13yo check on the chickens. They reported that they'd had enough sense to either go into the coop or to get under the roof over the feeder.

Then, as soon as it eased off, they went back to scratching around in the drizzle.

And when I finally got home, got my own feathers dried off, and had dinner it was fully dark. I went out to put them into the coop and found that they'd actually gone to bed on their own instead of dozing in a pile in the run.

I'm a happy chicken mama knowing that the 6-week-olds are bright enough to get out of the rain.

 

[CStulceSmith]

I wasn't home when the storm struck yesterday afternoon. I was at work sitting out in it (I attend a farm stand). I texted my DH who had the 13yo check on the chickens. They reported that they'd had enough sense to either go into the coop or to get under the roof over the feeder.

Then, as soon as it eased off, they went back to scratching around in the drizzle.

And when I finally got home, got my own feathers dried off, and had dinner it was fully dark. I went out to put them into the coop and found that they'd actually gone to bed on their own instead of dozing in a pile in the run.

I'm a happy chicken mama knowing that the 6-week-olds are bright enough to get out of the rain.

Ooooh wonderful! We free range ours every few days for an hour, but i worry about loose dogs getting them. We have a semi enclosed yard, but the neighbors 3 dogs are always coming in my yard! I really need to start on their coop but its been super hot weather.

 

[3KillerBs]

I haven't free-ranged mine (though Rosemary got out briefly the other day). I don't have a fenced yard.

I'm planning on a tractor or a portable pen so they can weed my garden for me between crops.

 

[3KillerBs]

Three days in a row they've all been in the coop when I went out at dark.

I saw "chicken football" for the first time today. When I was making dinner I dropped a few pre-browned hamburger crumbles on the floor so I tossed them into the chicken scrap dish. Sesame, one of the Delawares, had a piece and 4 of the 5 Big Red Boys were pursuing her back and forth along the run trying to get it away. Absolutely hilarious!

 

[3KillerBs]

I have embarrassingly large ragweed in my garden. I pulled one and put it into the run. The chickens went after it like a school of sharks.

 

[gander111]

Yep, they are weed-eaters to be sure! They will also eat your yard bare!
p.s. You will LOVE your Australorp..big, beautiful, stoic and great mom's!

 

[3KillerBs]

For their after dinner treat I brought them another big ragweed and a couple of another weed that's a bit less of a pest than the ragweed since it doesn't make me sneeze.

They preferred the ragweed and only started on the other weed after they'd stripped the ragweed stem bare. Its funny to see little Nugget, the accidentally bantam Langshan, and Noodle, the smaller of the two Dark Brahmas, shoving their way past and even under the Big Red Boys to get at a good leaf.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm a little nervous tonight. After further hardening the run against digging predators, I left the pop door open tonight.

I had intended to do this from the beginning because, with these hot nights, I want them to be able to get up and get to their water promptly in the morning, even on the rare, weekend days that I actually get to sleep in.

But I'm a little nervous anyway. They are still sleeping in a pile instead of on the roost and I think they'd be safer on the roost.

 

[gryeyes]

They will eventually roost at night on the bars instead of in a pile. With no Mama Hen getting up there showing them how to manage it, providing incentive because they want to snuggle under her, they might not learn how to accomplish it until they are 10 to 12 weeks of age.

It takes practice to balance in one's sleep, plus confidence.