Cabbage, the Unifier

In a rare moment, all birds were happily eating from the hanging cabbage.  It didn't last long, and I am glad I was there to see it.  The chickens continue to ignore one another for the most part, sticking to opposite sides of Red Door Coop.  We have the North Side Oldies and the South Side Newbies.  Fortunately, there was a brief moment today when they were unified.  Thank you, cabbage.

The Day After the Big Day

We woke to a beautiful sky.

The birds popped out of the coop: Lou, Bill, Weezy, Fitz..........BB stayed on the roost contemplating the meaning of life, or something.  She wakes up with everyone but seems to enjoy lingering on the roost for alone time.  

Weezy did a flying chicken jump up to the top of the small brown coop.  This seems to be a comfortable spot for the new birds right now.  Over the next week I will move those food and water dishes closer to the other hens.  For now, it is a good spot for the young ones to adjust to (escape from) the old hens.

Lou, Bill, and Fitz checked off their morning to-do lists.

BB lingered on the roost.

The rain never stopped yesterday and it grew dark very early last evening. The old hens went to bed around 7pm (early for the summer) but Weezy and BB were still scratching around the coop.  When I returned about an hour later, expecting to show the young hens to the roost, they were already perched there next to the old girls.  The little chickens found their way.  I was so pleased!

While it will take time for these five hens to settle in as a unified flock (doh!  just heard big squawks from the coop!) progress was made yesterday.  Here's to happy chickens today!

The Big Day

It was an early morning.  We didn't get up much earlier than normal, but Papa Hen had to head to the airport and Mama Hen was heading into Red Door Coop for The Big Day: introducing all the hens with no barriers between them.  

I was ready to go with all tricks of the trade outside the coop.  

I remained quiet, not wanting the birds to wake up early and argue before they even hopped off the roost. Did I mention it's been raining cats and dogs since yesterday afternoon?  For this reason, our morning was darker than usual. When the coop door finally opened around 5:45, Lou was the first to come out.

She had some alone time to scratch and peck and explore how we moved things around in the coop.  Extra food and water dishes, tree stumps rearranged, and a new low plastic table all made the coop different enough that the old girls would be slightly out of sorts.  I hung a cabbage and hid strawberries.  

Finally Bill and Fitz appeared.  

Then things got a little wild.  Good thing the new girls can jump high and move quickly.  The old girls did their jobs of enforcing the current pecking order, defending their territory, and showing the new girls who's in charge.  It sounds fierce and maybe it is, but it is all normal chicken behavior.  

The new girls are holding their own and have discovered some of the hiding spots we created: on top of and under the brown coop & on top of the tree stumps.  I even hand fed them some strawberries.

I feel bad that they are hiding, but Weezy and BB look so darn cute and they will venture out soon.  I will be watching closely in the late morning to be sure they get to the nesting boxes to lay their itty-bitty eggs. 

At one point, Bill decided to take a dirt bath next to BB and Weezy.

Bill has not jumped into the nesting box yet.  We are hoping her broody phase has passed.  Thanks, Miss C, for your advice!