The chooks are settling in!

The girls seem to be settling in well and are used to their little daily routine. I let them out of the coop about sevenish in the morning and take them their grub with fresh pellets. I've been mixing a spoonful of garlic powder and poultry spice into their food to help them to get over the shock of moving house and to keep them healthy in the cold weather. I also make sure they have clean water spiced with apple cider vinegar. In the afternoon I take them their treat bowl with a bit of mixed corn or mealworms and some fresh food like bits of grass or sorrel, a couple of over-ripe cherry toms or autumn rasberries, or whatever I have handy and needs to be eaten. As soon as the chooks spot their treat bowl they are lining up at the door and can't wait to get stuck in. While the girls are munching away, I'll do a quick clean in the coop, which usually means just tipping the poo tray onto the compost and covering it with a fresh newspaper and a sprinkling of aubiose. In the evening, the girls find their way to the coop before seven, and I'll go and lock them in just after, making sure I take all their food in the house with me to prevent getting rats in the garden. That's the minimum of the daily chicken chores.

There are other things of course. Being new to chicken keeping is very nerve wrecking and on the first couple of days I could be seen running into the garden after hearing any noise just to make sure that the dog (or anything else) hasn't scared the chooks. Right from the start, Hound was assigned half of the garden and the girls the other half and Hound would just glare at the chooks, until he decided to go and say his piece to the invaders. Now the chooks tend to make a calm but quick escape to the coop as soon as Hound is let out, eventhough he wouldn't dare to go anywhere near the coop. I think they've found mutual respect, as long as the chooks stay in the run, that is.

I might have mentioned earlier that one of the chooks was getting pecked by the other, so one night we had to sneak in the garden after dark (as there is no chance in hell we'd be able to catch Bella in broad day light, we've both tried and failed once), armed with Purple Spray. We managed to a) get the right bird and b) do a few good squirts near the tail feathers, and I was quite happy to go to bed knowing that I've done something to resolve the pecking issue. Next morning, we saw two birds coming out of the coop, one speckled and one half gray and half purple. It did help with the pecking, but I'm not sure Bella likes her new look.

Then there was the hail storm, during which both me and Hubby ran out to save the chooks. We tried to shoo them in the safety of the coop while being bombarded by what felt like little pebbles. We managed to get the girls in after scaring them half to death with a rake...Only to find ourselves trying to get them back out into the sun twenty minutes later. Experience tells me now that if the chooks wish to shelter from a storm outside the coop, the dustbath is a perfectly acceptable option.

There are lots of things to worry about, but sometimes, when all is well I like just making a cuppa and sitting down for a minute to watch the silly birds and enjoy the last of the warm weather.