Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

[thistlewick]

Oh this morning 'let them out' routine was very different.

Firstly, no one raced to my house edge like they did before. They ALWAYS went (with Chuck) to the house edge and under my rose bushes, then split up from there. This morning? nope, dawdling. dilly dallying. browsing where the scratch was last night (in front of the hen house), chatting with each other by the water bowls.

The younger (but laying) pullets went around the other side to the lean-to and hedge beyond.

Cream and Cracker were like... whats going on whats going on. They are not the leaders yet, they are terrified of the grown up hens and steer CLEAR of them. lol it's kind of adorable.

I guess they are going to have to earn the hen's trust and we will see if they do.

The roosting didn't change last night. I will keep track every night to see if it changes. The bulk of the grown hens sleep with Cream and Cracker by the window side of the hen house.

Cracker likes to walk in a circle around my feet, but he doesn't do any neck fluffing, wing flapping, chest puffing, none of it -- it's like he's trying to gain *my* confidence from me. The vibe I get from these two is... very derpy. lol

We will see how this experiment goes!

I think I am very lucky (and very very grateful) to have the space to just kind of see what happens when chickens are really absolutely left to their own devices. The only difference is they come home to roost -- I have seen other people let them roost in trees and what not (on youtube and I think, one user here that I've seen)

 

[WingItRanch]

By the way look how cute Miss Pecky is

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I know everyone says friendly cockerels become monsters, so we will see what happens with him! He's been raised in the flock and he absolutely knows his manners. All the lollipops are little darlings and very friendly, so we will see what happens.

We split up and took Chuck and Oscar out of the flock and stuck them in the bachelor pad today.

Cream and Cracker are now available to learn how to become Cockerels or not. Not sure how long I need to give them. Right now, they don't know how to do anything. But they are only 18 weeks old or so.

Absolutely zero hens cared that Chuck was gone, no one went to visit him or Oscar and when we did treats tonight, *every* hen came out to eat together. That's the first time that's really ever happened, typically before when the big boys were out, they were very wary and had to be kind of fed treats separately.

Will be interesting to see if the nighttime roosting spots change.

Miss Pecky is so cute! I hope he stays well behaved!