Cheryl's Hen House...

[aart]

Quote: Yes that's a good idea!

Looks like we posted simultaneously earlier.

 

[UrbnGardenPeeps]

Thank you. Ray is an inside boy but he occasionally escapes just to prove he can. He will charge out the door, go 10 feet, and the just lay down and wait for Cheryl to come and pick him up and carry him back in the house.

Haha! Gotta love cats!!

 

[TerryH]

We decided that this was the day to integrate the littles and the bigs. We devised a multistep integration plan as follows:

Step #1: Open the door

Step#2: Get out of the way.



And the plan appears to have worked perfectly. Normal chicken behavior from both groups. The bigs making sure that the littles know who's in charge and the littles bobbing and weaving in and out of the bigs. Generally a little squabbling but pretty much a nonevent.





I've removed the door completely now so everyone has access everywhere.

 

[aart]

Cool Beans!
Will be interesting to see what happens going thru the day and especially tonite.
Is door easy to put back up in case you need it??

 

[TerryH]

Reinstall the door in no time with my screw gun. I was concerned that the propped open door might be a spot that one could get trapped. Completely uneventful day so far.

 

[TerryH]

Quite interesting to watch them this evening. The littles really wanted to go in the coop with the bigs but couldn't quite do it. They kept going right to the top of the ramp but never went in. They eventually ended up all in a pile on the top rung of the pole. Quite a sight really. They do not fit there any more. I think they will go in the coop to roost soon though. We shall see.

 

[aart]

Quite interesting to watch them this evening. The littles really wanted to go in the coop with the bigs but couldn't quite do it. They kept going right to the top of the ramp but never went in. They eventually ended up all in a pile on the top rung of the pole. Quite a sight really. They do not fit there any more. I think they will go in the coop to roost soon though. We shall see.

Ha, that's great!
Were the littles being 'kept out' of the coop by the olders?
Only a matter of time....fascinating to watch the whole thing.

 

[TerryH]

The bigs were already on the roost so just general indecisiveness on the little's part. They really want d to go in but. Oils to quite muster the courage. Was super funny to watch. Interested to see how it all goes tonight.

 

[TerryH]

The littles have been up and down the ramp to the big girl coop about a million times since I reported last but have never gone in that I have seen...until tonight. The 6 littles have grown so they don't fit on that one rung on the pole so one of the buffs has been relegated to the next rung. Well, she had enough of that and after much back and forth has settled down to roost with the big girls. The remaining 5 now barely fit on the rung. I think that's a good thing as I feel now that one by one as they are forced off their preferred roost they will go in the coop with the others.



I saw something else this evening that was both a bit disturbing and encouraging at the same time. I noticed the winter curtain that I had up to shield the littles has been torn and it has teeth marks on it. Whatever it was did not gain entry so I feel good about our run and coop security measures but will be on the look out for whatever it is.

 

[Finnie]

Yikesies! I hope you can find and eliminate whatever did that!

Your littles cramming onto the top rung remind me of the song that goes: there were 5 in the bed and the little on said "roll over"... Eventually you're going to have only one left as King (queen) of the pole, and she's going to be lonely! (Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they all decide to copy the one in the coop tomorrow night. "Hey, she must have found a better spot. Let's take it from her!")