Pfffttt, not a great day weather wise; 40F mid afternoon and freezing now. Wet, miserable and yuk.
I have to admit I was pleased to see Tribe 1 make for the hay rack at the end of the sheep field after being let out. They stayed there all day apart from occasional forays to the bowl of feed next to the duck houses.
The chicks on the other hand headed straight down to my house; they were there before me. Maybe an hour later Treacle came in. He was here for most of the day. He is really good with the chicks. He only bashed one the whole day and they didn't behave that well.
Early evening I was expecting some problems getting them to go to their tribes coop to roost. The pattern is fairly predictable.
What happens in all but the worst weather or a recent attempted predator strike is an hour or so before roost time they will forage, and/or rest under one of the bushes on the lip of the bank outside. Treacle headed out a little bit earlier than normal because of the bad weather (the roosting time tends to be earlier the worse the weather) the chicks followed him out.
They followed him right to the bottom of the bank that leads up to the top of the roof of my house, got a few hops up the bank and then some disturbance at the coop, sent them running for cover. Treacle went on without them. I'll have to explain to him he has to stand out in the freezing rain and wait for them.
I gave them a few minutes foraging outside the house while I collected the stuff like torch, screwdriver, etc, that I take when I close them in for the night. I went back out and walked away from the house. The chicks followed me. A bit of a scramble up the bank (I must put some steps in) and I'm on the roof. The chicks are still following me up but they are at the very start of the woods and making use of the weeds and grasses as cover.
There is a human route to the coop and a chicken route. The chicken route was established by Fat Bird, it gives maximum cover, a few good hawk obstacles and good visibility down the banks. At the top on my roof and further on is open ground. I like to see extreme caution in the chickens when leaving cover and making the dash accross open ground. If they can get close to the coop, they can run under it and through the stock net fence on one side. I've watched a few do it. If whatever is chasing them doesn't get them in that bit of open ground they'll probably survive. The last one I saw was Fudge escaping a roaming dog.
The human route is as one would expect, over easy open ground. I took the human route and watched the chicks. The chicks came out of the undergrowth and foraged for a few minutes and then made a sort of dash across the open ground to the coop and went in.
I'm going to try to get a picture of this. The hens from Tribe 2 (3 of them) and the two chicks are all still trying to sleep in one nest box. It's just an untidy pile of feathers with the odd beak protruding from somewhere.
I have to admit I was pleased to see Tribe 1 make for the hay rack at the end of the sheep field after being let out. They stayed there all day apart from occasional forays to the bowl of feed next to the duck houses.
The chicks on the other hand headed straight down to my house; they were there before me. Maybe an hour later Treacle came in. He was here for most of the day. He is really good with the chicks. He only bashed one the whole day and they didn't behave that well.
Early evening I was expecting some problems getting them to go to their tribes coop to roost. The pattern is fairly predictable.
What happens in all but the worst weather or a recent attempted predator strike is an hour or so before roost time they will forage, and/or rest under one of the bushes on the lip of the bank outside. Treacle headed out a little bit earlier than normal because of the bad weather (the roosting time tends to be earlier the worse the weather) the chicks followed him out.
They followed him right to the bottom of the bank that leads up to the top of the roof of my house, got a few hops up the bank and then some disturbance at the coop, sent them running for cover. Treacle went on without them. I'll have to explain to him he has to stand out in the freezing rain and wait for them.
I gave them a few minutes foraging outside the house while I collected the stuff like torch, screwdriver, etc, that I take when I close them in for the night. I went back out and walked away from the house. The chicks followed me. A bit of a scramble up the bank (I must put some steps in) and I'm on the roof. The chicks are still following me up but they are at the very start of the woods and making use of the weeds and grasses as cover.
There is a human route to the coop and a chicken route. The chicken route was established by Fat Bird, it gives maximum cover, a few good hawk obstacles and good visibility down the banks. At the top on my roof and further on is open ground. I like to see extreme caution in the chickens when leaving cover and making the dash accross open ground. If they can get close to the coop, they can run under it and through the stock net fence on one side. I've watched a few do it. If whatever is chasing them doesn't get them in that bit of open ground they'll probably survive. The last one I saw was Fudge escaping a roaming dog.
The human route is as one would expect, over easy open ground. I took the human route and watched the chicks. The chicks came out of the undergrowth and foraged for a few minutes and then made a sort of dash across the open ground to the coop and went in.
I'm going to try to get a picture of this. The hens from Tribe 2 (3 of them) and the two chicks are all still trying to sleep in one nest box. It's just an untidy pile of feathers with the odd beak protruding from somewhere.
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