They're seven weeks old and rather scruffy-looking. I assume the disheveled teenager look is normal?
My mum named them. She commented that the long-tailed one looked perky, and that was it from there. Perky appears to be the dominant hen for now.
We got them back at about 4pm, and for a while left them in the crisp box with the dust sheet over the top. Upon pulling back the dust sheet... nothing happened. I tipped the box up on its side and stepped back, and after a couple of minutes ventured out and started having fun scratching around and digging to wingtip level. When the light started to fade under the horizon, they started craning their heads towards the garden, hugging the walls and flapping about, and making funny noises. The noises had the same tone as a plainitive meow, with the first part being a whistle and the second being a bit rougher. Maybe they were calling for their former penmates, or maybe they were yelling about having nowhere to sleep for the night.
They became much less concerned about my presence at this stage, running about within elbow's reach. During the day, they started cheeping and moving away when I got within about six feet, but as it got darker they seemed to have other concerns. Eventually they piled into a corner and tried to crawl under each others' wings. Mum said they were stressed, and insisted I catch them to put them in the coop. I made a couple of attempts, but since I was sat down and trying to grab them from below and not actually trying that hard, nothing happened.
At about 10pm I went back out, found them still piled in the corner, and very slowly sidled up to them on my butt. For me it was still quite light, but I have no idea how much they could see. Once it got dark enough that I had trouble seeing whether their eyes were open or closed, the fun began. Perky was first up for catching, and my first attempt at picking up a chicken went okay. I wanted to reach under and take each leg between two fingers, but couldn't find much in the squashed fluff. Maybe I wasn't going far enough under. She went in the coop and on the perch. Pinky was next. Perky was quite awake by this stage, and there was some scuffling and falling off the perch and trying to escape the coop through the door and through the gap where the poop tray is supposed to slide in (I left that out for summer ventilation, and also so they could just poop straight on the litter). Somehow they both scuffled their way back up, but Perky would not sit still.
First she jumped up to the top of the coop (the roof was propped up at a steep angle), so I got her before she could jump off and go splat. That attempt at picking up a chicken didn't go too well because I missed the legs again, but since it was getting pretty dark her reaction time was really, really slow and I kept hold of her ankle long enough to get her wings down. Onto the perch she went again.
This time Pinky was settled down, so Perky's jitters didn't set off another scufflefest. Perky kept moving her head up and bobbing it around as though interested in the view, so I cupped my hand in front of her face to keep her settled down. She kept beaking my hand and making a noise somewhere between a purr and a growl. I think she didn't like feeling crowded? She was making that noise when it was just Pinky nearby. Pinky did nothing the entire time except shuffle a centimetre closer to Perky.
At some point, 10.30 passed and the annoying streetlight went off, but I stuck around for another ten minutes to make sure the Energiser Chicken wasn't going to get up again the moment I was gone. I'll be going out again once I post this, just to check around outside the coop.
So that was my first day with chickens. I don't think Perky will be bothered by me tomorrow. I didn't say anything after I came out at 10, and I didn't move much either.
My mum named them. She commented that the long-tailed one looked perky, and that was it from there. Perky appears to be the dominant hen for now.
We got them back at about 4pm, and for a while left them in the crisp box with the dust sheet over the top. Upon pulling back the dust sheet... nothing happened. I tipped the box up on its side and stepped back, and after a couple of minutes ventured out and started having fun scratching around and digging to wingtip level. When the light started to fade under the horizon, they started craning their heads towards the garden, hugging the walls and flapping about, and making funny noises. The noises had the same tone as a plainitive meow, with the first part being a whistle and the second being a bit rougher. Maybe they were calling for their former penmates, or maybe they were yelling about having nowhere to sleep for the night.
They became much less concerned about my presence at this stage, running about within elbow's reach. During the day, they started cheeping and moving away when I got within about six feet, but as it got darker they seemed to have other concerns. Eventually they piled into a corner and tried to crawl under each others' wings. Mum said they were stressed, and insisted I catch them to put them in the coop. I made a couple of attempts, but since I was sat down and trying to grab them from below and not actually trying that hard, nothing happened.
At about 10pm I went back out, found them still piled in the corner, and very slowly sidled up to them on my butt. For me it was still quite light, but I have no idea how much they could see. Once it got dark enough that I had trouble seeing whether their eyes were open or closed, the fun began. Perky was first up for catching, and my first attempt at picking up a chicken went okay. I wanted to reach under and take each leg between two fingers, but couldn't find much in the squashed fluff. Maybe I wasn't going far enough under. She went in the coop and on the perch. Pinky was next. Perky was quite awake by this stage, and there was some scuffling and falling off the perch and trying to escape the coop through the door and through the gap where the poop tray is supposed to slide in (I left that out for summer ventilation, and also so they could just poop straight on the litter). Somehow they both scuffled their way back up, but Perky would not sit still.
First she jumped up to the top of the coop (the roof was propped up at a steep angle), so I got her before she could jump off and go splat. That attempt at picking up a chicken didn't go too well because I missed the legs again, but since it was getting pretty dark her reaction time was really, really slow and I kept hold of her ankle long enough to get her wings down. Onto the perch she went again.
This time Pinky was settled down, so Perky's jitters didn't set off another scufflefest. Perky kept moving her head up and bobbing it around as though interested in the view, so I cupped my hand in front of her face to keep her settled down. She kept beaking my hand and making a noise somewhere between a purr and a growl. I think she didn't like feeling crowded? She was making that noise when it was just Pinky nearby. Pinky did nothing the entire time except shuffle a centimetre closer to Perky.
At some point, 10.30 passed and the annoying streetlight went off, but I stuck around for another ten minutes to make sure the Energiser Chicken wasn't going to get up again the moment I was gone. I'll be going out again once I post this, just to check around outside the coop.
So that was my first day with chickens. I don't think Perky will be bothered by me tomorrow. I didn't say anything after I came out at 10, and I didn't move much either.
