Our neighbor Dave, who has been raising our four new chicks along with his new flock, let us know last week that egg laying had begun, so it was time to bring the little hens to our coop and introduce them to their (one year older) sisters.
Catching them turned out to be a bit of an event as I managed to spook the entire flock and two of Dave's hens flew the yard. Young chickens are still light enough that they can truly fly. We managed to coax one of them back through the gate and apparently the other hen flew back later in the day, not liking it out there in the desert all by herself.
There were a few minor tussles between the established hens and the new four-some but after a day all is in a routine with a couple of them already laying beautiful little pullet eggs.
It is a gorgeous day today and Dan and I were working in the garden getting the beds ready for the new season. We heard a squawk and looked up to see Agnes, the most precocious of the new girls, standing on the upended "hospital cage", ready to fly our 6 foot fence with one of her sisters looking on and ready to follow! Dan talked her off her launching pad, and the hospital cage has been removed so there will be no repeat performance. It was a narrow escape. Those little hens may fly like birds and think they need to have a tree to survey the surroundings, but it is a dangerous place out there.
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| A couple of the new hens under the watchful eye of Goldie, Grande Dame du Coop. |
1 comment:
They're so pretty! Too cold here to work outside this week. High tomorrow 25 - ugh!
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