Moving Day
No more out of town weekends. No more waiting for a little more growth. No more excuses or stalling. It was time for cohort 2 to leave their tiny coop and join their sisters in Coop2.0. After weeks of co-free ranging with minimal flare ups, a shared love of dust baths in the circle and cold grape treats, and after a day of free ranging with their furry brothers and Chickie Parents in the yard, cohort 2 put themselves to bed one last time* into their coop.
After each coop settled down, we extracted the sleepy chickens from their roosts and placed them one by one in the big coop, struggling with the zombie like actions of the bird and sporadic wing flaps causing bedding to fly. Chickie Daddy passed each of the girls to Chickie Momma who cause a shuffle of birds up and down bars when adding a new coop occupant. With the coop secured and the camera checked, the entire screen was filled with chickens snuggled in so tight proving it to be challenge to identify 12 separate hens.
Sleepy Chickie Parents sat on the patio the next morning with cups of coffee as the chickies descended the ramp, some of them exploring Coop2.0 for the first time. A few long time residents of the coop decided to sleep in as the chirps and wing flaps carried on outside. For the most part, the babies (cohort2) stuck to themselves and maintained positioning near the coop’s door. When the counsel (Mae, Gerry, and Ada) finally got up some pecks were given, but overall it was fairly calm as the sun rose.
Chickie Momma was spotted in the coop giving the 6 huddled birds hiding against her a pep talk and reminding her biggies to be nice. After more than 1 aggressive attack she took her babies out to their smaller coop for a reset and break until free ranging later that day.
*The babies did end up putting themselves to bed again that evening, but once again the Chickie Parents foiled their plans. When they woke up the next morning, under the watchful eye of Chickie Daddy they continued to integrate or at least ignore each other. Aside from a few lingering pecking order issues the day went well, eggs were laid, and come sundown, 12 hens found their way up to the roosting bars. Cohort 1 jammed themselves onto the top bar, all 6, and the babies spread out among the other 2 bars.
