Busy chickies

I left on vacation for 10 days. Before I left I moved the chickens over to the stall I used for raising the meaties. It gave them a lot more room, which was important because my house sitter would not be able to give the birds a few hours of out-and-explore while I would be gone.

When I left I took the four eggs with me that had been laid thus far. When I came home I had a big surprise in the barn refrigerator.

Not only are both Ameraucanas now laying (all the green eggs) but a few of the brown egg-layers have also started. I'm guessing there are probably 4-5 of the 8 laying now.

I should probably finish the chicken tractor so they have a proper place to hang out.

We have an egg!

One of the Ameraucanas laid the first egg of the flock! During their daily out-and-explore she was spending a lot of time hanging out in the corner of a horse stall.

I had a hunch this would happen soon. My coworker who had 9 pullets in our chick shipment got her first egg over the weekend.

It's on the small side, but what do you expect for a first egg from a 18-week-old pullet.

Attack!

The chickens are progressing with their barn aisle games. I even have them going out into the pasture for short periods of time. But the more I play the games, the more I realize they prefer if I am out there with them.

This morning after riding the horse, feeding everybody, and letting the chickens out for supervised release I started making some phone calls. I was leaning on the pasture gate talking on the phone while watching the chickens mill about.

The next thing I know the Australorp is in my face, flapping and trying to grip the top rail of the gate, all while squawking at me. I'm sure I must have let out a startled yell and scared the person on the other end of the line, not to mention all the goofy chicken noises emitting less than a foot away from my phone.

But surprisingly, once the chicken regained it's balance, it actually sat there on the gate for a while. I actually got to pet it a few times. Then, just as suddenly the bird just hopped down and resumed pecking in the sand.

Close encounters of the poult kind.

New Games

I've been on the road a lot for work lately, which means I still haven't been able to get started on the chicken tractor (maybe this weekend?).

In the meantime, the birdies have been getting a little cabin fever in their mini-coop. Pardon the expression, but to "kill two birds with one stone" I've been encouraging exploration and teaching them to follow me around by playing some games.

First it was Meal Worm Jackpot. That one is pretty simple - put a handful (or two) of dried meal worms in their feeder every morning as I called to them. It didn't take them long to realize I had the "chicken crack." No wonder the packaging says "watch them dance and peck in a frenzy" when you feed it! I tried hand feeding it too but that usually resulted in my fingers getting bitten (or is it pecked?).

Next it was Meal Worm Buffet. That one involved opening the door to the mini-coop and explore the area just outside. Throwing an ample amount of meal worms on the ground certainly helped.

The next challenge was to get them outside the stall area and into the barn aisle. Curiosity took over, but any time I walked by (or the horse nickered, or the cat sauntered into the feed room, or a crow called outside) the chickens would dart right back into their coop area. Capitalizing on the meal worm training I've been slowly expanding the chickens' exploration range by spreading more meal worms.

Which brings us to Barn Aisle Meal Worm Hunt. This fun little game combines exploration, scratching, dust bathing encouragement, and a healthy dose of positive reinforcement. Even better, I've got them headed in the right direction down the barn aisle so when the chicken tractor is built hopefully I can lead them out to the pasture rather than catch-and-carry for relocation.

The game is still pretty simple. First I get them out of the stall area.

Then I slowly start leading them down the barn aisle by tossing handfuls of dried meal worms. I find it interesting that it is usually one Wyandotte and the Australorp that take the role of lead explorer, getting more confident to follow me around.

Then it's not long until the main crowd of the Wyandottes, the Australorp, one Delaware, and the darker Ameraucana start skipping down the barn aisle looking for the end of the trail before settling in to peck and scratch. Meanwhile the other three are usually still hanging back at the first stage of the game.

I only let them out for an hour or so, then it's back to the coop when they aren't showing much interest in the meal worms anymore. I'm trying to reinforce verbal cues, calling "chick, chick, chick" when the meal worms appear and "psht, psht, psht" as I herd them back. Fingers crossed it will all transfer when I move them out to the chicken tractor and later introduce them to limited free-ranging.

A little update

The chickens are getting bigger. They don't all fit nicely on one perch anymore. They think their coop is getting too small. They also think kale is divine.

I need to get going on that chicken tractor. Only about another month until they should start laying eggs.

Getting bigger!

They don't all fit nicely on one perch anymore.

But they still can't quite live without the training perch. I tried taking it away but after a week I put it back. A few of them still start their roosting routine by crouching on top of the waterer before making a giant leap.

More perch training

It's been a few weeks since the pullets moved in to their new mini-coop. The new pad included perches, but the birdies were using them as a daytime jungle gym rather than a nightly roost.

After my co-worker took her nine home last week I thought maybe the group would get a little more adventurous with the extra space. Not so. Instead they spent their nights huddled together on the floor of the pen, in the corner furthest from the window. My coworker told me hers took to their perch the first night in her coop, so I thought a little lesson was in order.

I waited until dusk to carry out the lesson plan. Just enough light to see what I was doing, but dark enough that the birds wouldn't be interested in leaving their new post. One by one I scooped them up and put them on the perches - five in the middle and three on the lower, only because I couldn't reach the top.

I flipped on the barn lights quick to get the horses fed, and one unsettled bird decided it preferred to be on the ground. Lights went back out. Scooped up the errant pupil. Put it back on the lower perch. Then take a picture and hope the flash doesn't disturb them too bad.

Working for elbow-err, wing- room

If I flipped the lights on they pullets would start getting restless and looking at the ground. Rather than risk another repeat lesson the lights stayed off while the horses finished eating (which they were NOT happy about).

Would it work? I went back out about 10 p.m. and everybirdy was still on the perch I placed them.

The next morning I went out early to feed the horses, hoping to catch the pullets on the perch. Two were on the ground, but the others were getting restless and joined them soon.

The big test was that night. Would they take to the perches on their own?

I would say yes.

Now if they could get up there in one flying leap. For now they are still using the temporary perch, about waist high, to leap-frog onto the permanent ladder-style perch. I'll probably "take off the training wheels" and remove the temporary low perch in a week or so. I can only take so many knocks to the head when I duck under it to scoop up one of the birds.