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Behold, Cluckingham Palace!

chikkenhouse

I’m back! I had a lovely week off. I had intended to stay indoors and play computer, but we had a surprise ‘heat wave’ (in quotes because, England) for the WHOLE of my b’day week, and I ended up spending most of it sitting in the garden. Shut the browser tabs for FaceBook, all the news and weaselblog and played mad chicken lady. I recommend it (now more than ever).

But first I had to assemble the chicken house, since the little girls had thoroughly outgrown their cardboard box sleeping quarters in the house. And I did, and I put them in it, and they were TERRIFIED. Of the henhouse. I’m not sure why. They huddled in a corner of the run farthest from the house and refused to go near it. I put them in, they launched themselves out like little ballistic missiles, if ballistic missiles peeped and shed feathers.

I guess that black opening seemed like The Cave That Eats Baby Chickens.

Still, I figured when night fell, their instincts would kick in and they’d go inside to sleep, but no. HELL no. When night fell, they wailed and cried until I went out and let them waddle happily into the pet carrier for a ride back indoors.

On the third night, I closed the pop-hole and shut them inside and…they’ve been happy in it ever since. In fact, I’m terribly impressed with what a grownup little flock they are, all by themselves. As predicted, Vita has been rotten to them. As predicted, Jack the cat has chased them around. But they calm down right away and go back to chickening (though they were mighty puzzled when the Chinook helicopter went over low and slow).

More on birthday later, but right now I have to start the second module of my Chickenology course: Behaviour Patterns of Chickens.


Comments


Comment from Janna
Time: May 9, 2016, 7:29 pm

How big is it?


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 9, 2016, 8:36 pm

Not very. The house is big enough for 6 or 8 birds, maybe more with bantams. But the run is a bit small. Needs to be bigger if we’re going to put the whole flock in there and leave them on rainy days.


Comment from Janna
Time: May 9, 2016, 8:54 pm

They already get along well enough to leave them alone together? That’s pretty fast.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 9, 2016, 9:37 pm

Only when I can be out there with them. Though, honestly, they’ve done so well out there, I’ve relaxed a little.

Head chicken ignores them completely, second chicken has gone broody (again!), so it’s really just third chicken who goes after them. And that’s only a problem if she gets them trapped in a corner of the run — they’re much, much faster than she is!


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: May 10, 2016, 3:30 am

Well done, Stoaty. Maybe you can get the girls to pose for a family photo in front of their new hacienda.


Comment from catnip
Time: May 10, 2016, 4:33 am

Yay! Stoaty’s back! And chickens!

That’s a very nice looking henhouse. Is it screened on the bottom so that nothing can tunnel underneath for a snack that’s toe-lickin’ good?


Comment from catnip
Time: May 10, 2016, 7:06 am

A graduate of Chicken U:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxli2YO6_08


Comment from Nina
Time: May 10, 2016, 7:08 am

I’m always up for chikin stories!


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 10, 2016, 12:08 pm

Chikin stories? How ’bout this?

The Surprising and Singular Adventures of A HEN as Related
by Herself to Her Family of Chickens


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: May 10, 2016, 1:10 pm

Maybe, they just missed you…

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