Chicks Running Around The Yard
The chicks have been growing incredibly fast! The cardboard nesting box we built for them was once spacious and luxurious for the little chicks, now these little hens are all bunched up and nearly able to jump over the walls when we take the top off to replace their food and water. Luckily for them, spring has come to Northern Virginia early this year! We’ve had many warm days so have taken the chicks into our yard to explore the new surroundings, under strict supervision of course.
This weekend we went to give the chicks fresh food and water and saw a bunch of little hens! All six of them had all their down feathers completely hidden by feathers. They were also continually getting their water dirty and knocking down their perches by pushing at the walls of the cardboard nesting box. I think they were sending us a message, time to move out!
Hens First Time In Their Coop
We were not 100% ready for them to move into their new outdoor homes, but we made some temporary fixes and got the coops ready for the hens’ arrival. We used some left-over pavers to build up a platform for the food and water and threw some lawn clippings into the floor to give the chickens some added interest in the coops.
At the end of the first day, around dusk, we went out and placed the hens on their roost so they would get a feel for where they could sleep at night. Some sat up there for a while, others hopped back down and cheeped at us. We came out later and found them all on the pavers with the food and watering dishes, huddled on top of each other. One was even on top of the water feeder underneath the nesting box in the coop! The paver solution we came up with was no good because the chicks could still walk at the same level as the food and water feeders and was not tall enough to prevent them from jumping on top of the water feeder. You can see how this was setup in the videoat the end of the article.
Molly Dog Saying Hello
Today we went to Lowes and picked up a concrete cube used for building decks to place the water feeder on and a bag of cement to use to make bases for the food and grit. The concrete cube was great as it pushed the top of the water feeder to just under the nesting box so they can’t try to sleep on the water feeder anymore.
Well the new block for the water feeder worked, however it just sent the hens off somewhere else to huddle up together for night time cuddles. We went to check on them a few hours after dark to make sure the new system was working and were alarmed when we arrived to find an empty coop! Martha and I both looked at each other and asked if we had made sure to lock the coop door when we were done, we were sure we had locked it! We got a little closer and used a flash light to see that the door was still locked tight, but no hens to be seen. Then we heard them… We opened up the nesting box where they are supposed to just go when its time to lay an egg, and found this…
Chicks Cuddled In Nesting Box For The Night
These hens are too silly! They had us really going for a moment. We took them out and put them back on the perch we made for them in their coops, as it is the correct place for them to sleep at night. Some stayed there after we went inside, so hopefully they’ll learn to sleep there eventually! For now though, they are all staying together since they fit nicely in one coop. Eventually when they get bigger we will separate the flock into the second coop.
Check back later to hear how they are doing with our very busy bees living as the hens’ upstairs neighbors…
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