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.
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