The Chicken Report

The ladies have been adjusting nicely to being in their coop 24-7. Their primary activity, besides eating, is digging their way through the Earth's crust. At the rate they are going, we are hopeful that they will reach the Earth's molten core by mid-June. From there, they continue on to China.

All that digging, along with constant rearranging of the straw in their coop, has necessitated an increased regimen of daily naps. The ladies have come a long way from their early daytime coop visits, when they were four feathery bundles of nonstop activity that came to a crashing end as soon as we brought them back into their basement brooder for the night.

If the mornings are cool, they'll snuggle together under the henhouse after they eat breakfast, and I've caught them resting thusly off and on throughout the day, when I'm home to peek at them frequently.

Our primary obstacle right now is to get the ladies to put themselves to bed like chickens are allegedly supposed to do. They will peacefully let me put them into the henhouse one-by-one, if the conditions are right,* but otherwise they would spend all night crammed together on one end of their outside roost, I'm certain.

*Two things I've learned in the past few days. First, do NOT try to put the ladies to bed early before it is suitably dark and they are suitably sleepy on their perch. This results in much frantic squawking on their part, and much frustration on my part as Babette (or Little Bob as we usually refer to her) decides to run under the henhouse, only to start freaking out when she realizes she is the only chicken left alone in the coop!! 

Second, do NOT try to put the chickens to bed when the heat lamp in the henhouse is not on, even if they were quite content to have it turned off right after retiring the night before. This only leads to each chicken trying to escape the henhouse as you are trying to put another one in. This is not fun. Especially when pine shavings are preventing you from closing the door, and you are being beaten on by small beaks.

I've decided that they don't like their ramp, because they slide around on it too much. This weekend, the husband has kindly consented to build them a sloped ladder that they can perch on and use as an intermediate landing point before henhouse entry. I want them to use the henhouse during the day, and so far they have not. I think if they get used to going in their as they go about their daily business, they may be inclined to put themselves in there at bedtime. Fingers crossed!

P.S. We've seen at least one raccoon almost every day, even in the afternoons. No hint of trouble yet, knock wood.