Moving into the Hen House

The chicks have been living in their brooder which was set inside the hen house, with a heat lamp hung overhead.  They don't need the heat lamp any longer and they were getting pretty crowded in the brooder box.  On Monday we set up the hen house with shavings on the floor, water set up higher on blocks, and their food suspended from the ceiling with hay twine.  They are too small to get up into the laying boxes but I filled them with shavings anyway.  We carried the brooder out into the chicken yard where they happily chirped standing in the patches of sunshine coming in through the sides of the brooder.  Brett hung a dog barrier on some nails so they can't get into the chicken run just yet.  They are too big for the brooder but just the right size to be a tasty morsel for any number of critters roaming the ranch.  I'm afraid raccoons, skunks and cats could scale the fencing if they put their mind to it.  And hawks can swoop down from above.

Brett stood inside the hen house and I lifted the chicks out of the brooder, wings flapping madly, and handed them over the barrier to Brett.  They immediately huddled in the far corner of the hen house.

I picked some grass and sprinkled it in the middle of the hen house.  They love grass.  After a few minutes, a couple brave chicks came over to investigate.

The first day they spent exploring and running back to their corner whenever we came into the run to peek in and see how they were doing.

It only took them a day to get acclimated.  They are eating everything in sight, running, trying to fly, and roosting on the lowest rung of the roosting ladder.

The chicks are one month old now.  We think we may have a rooster in the flock.  One of the barred rocks has a suspiciously large comb and I caught him trying to mount one of the other chicks.  Pretty soon we'll know for sure.