free range chickens!

 

after moving the chicks from inside the house to their coop outside, we kept them confined to the coop for a couple of weeks.  some of the smaller chicklets were little enough that i was worried my cats would decide to snack on them.  and in my vast book study on chickens i learned that keeping them in the coop for several days ensures that they think of their coop as home and return there at night.

once i was confident, i decided it was time to let the girls roam.  our backyard is large and safely fenced and we never intended to keep the chickens in the coop full time.  we hope it works out to let them have their freedom in the yard, and then lock their coop to keep them safe from predators at night.

so far it is awesome!  the girls really seem to love scratching for bugs, sampling weeds, and dust bathing under bushes.  all 10 of them move together around the yard, never straying far from each other.  if one does get separated she will raise her head and sound an alarmed peep! over and over until her flock peeps back and she finds them (or i rescue her from the tall grass and carry her to her flock...).  

watching them is fun and so peaceful.  this morning i sat on the edge of the deck with a cup of coffee and just mingled with my chickens.  they are silly - if one gets spooked and runs back to the coop, they all follow in a flurry.  and they will jump for especially delicious looking leaves!  a real, two feet off the ground, hop! it's a riot.  i'll have to try harder to get a good photo.  i have realized that chickens are much harder to photograph than people.  they move in a jerky, unpredictable way and mine are, of course, scared of the camera.

the only downside i see to this new freedom is that the girls are not as interested in letting us hold and pet them.  they are masters of quickly stepping just out of reach over and over again until we give up trying to touch them.  i will probably have to resort to bribing them with treats. 

the chicks are 8 and 10 weeks old now.  we are feeling so good about our decision to keep chickens.  it has been an entirely positive adventure for our family.  there are very few things better than walking past the window and seeing the chickens i raised by hand scratching happily in the yard. 

our flock

nellie

venus

nico

singer's feathers are beautiful

luna

red

red

singer, always preening.  she's the beauty queen.

luna, the fuzzy little weirdo