The chickens are gone

Yes, finally the chickens are outside. We moved them out about a week a ago, after a frustrating day of trying to finish the house. It is still technically not finished and lots of things are occurring to us or have been shown as less than optimal choices. I still need to build the nest boxes, not a huge rush as they won't be laying eggs for a couple more months. More importantly we need to install a couple perches for them to roost on. They have been hanging out on the wire upstairs and enjoying the grass to munch on below. One things which seemed like a good idea t the time, was that we changed the floor wire from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch. It seemed like this would be better on their feet especially as we were putting them in there young, but it is also small enough that it catches their poop. So we're going to have to go in there pretty regularly and brush it off. Also while the coop is pretty luxurious, it is also damn heavy. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to move it around. M put handles on it, but I can't do anything except shove it forward a foot or two and once we're out back and the ground is less even, I can see it being a huge pain. But it is what we have. It's possible we should have gone with a really cheap lightweight moveable summer house and then built a sturdy permanent winter house since they don't lay during the winter anyway. But we'll work this one for awhile and see how it goes. This is all new and obviously a learning experience.

The dogs are doing OK with the chickens. One of them got out the other day, not really clear how, but we fixed the problem we thought it might be and they haven't gotten out since. The dogs were just pretty much ignoring them, which is funny because they are constantly worked up by them when they are in the coop. It must just be the lure of the unknown and unseen, and of course the smell.

Carmine, who seemed to have a really bloated crop for a long time, but with no other symptoms seems to have worked it out by herself. She is fully feathered and quite adventurous, always one of the first to come when I open a door, probably because she is also the one I have handled the most due to her illness. I will get some new pictures of them as they have changed considerably. They look like really small chickens now, which is I guess what they are, so go figure. We put a feeder slot in for them which is way too high now, hopefully they will grow into it, but we need to add a perch for them temporarily so they can reach the food. It is nice that they can't perch on the feeder and poop in the food anymore.

Tomorrow photos and the farm!