Out of the Barn

It’s moving day down at the barn.  The chicks are moving on out.  They could not be happier.

Gone is their bedding of wood shavings and straw.  Now they have…

grass.

Lovely, green, full of ticks and grubs, and tons of chlorophyll, grass.  The ground is moist enough to have the bugs up out of the ground, and these birds were giddy with delight.

Knut and his cousin moved their experimental structure out into the yard, to see how it would do.

2 of the chickens weren’t quick enough on their feet and one lost a toe, and the other got a bit scratched.  They’re resting in the sick unit.  The kids brought them raspberries to cheer them up.  I think as the guys get better at moving it, and the chickens get more familiar with it moving, these injuries should hopefully be avoided in the future.

So, those are the meat birds.  (They’re Red Rangers, not Cornish Cross.  We wanted some excellent forgers for this project.)  They’re looking good.  They’re looking BIG.  My goodness, they got huge.  They’re ready to spend their days outside over grass now.  They’ll probably be moved every few days to get a fresh crop of bugs.  The ticks are bad this year.  Chickens love to eat ticks.  Therefore I love chickens.

And you’re probably wondering about my girls?  Where are the laying hens?

They got moved over to the sunshine (the netting on top was put back on after the picture.  They can almost hop out now), and still in the old horse’s watering trough.  They’ll be moved to the coop today.  These girls will be free range over the yard in a little while.  They’re still too small.  They’re much smaller than the meat chickens, and still too prone to predators.  The coop will provide them more room, though, as they are fast outgrowing this brooder.  It will be good to get them all settled into what will be their home.  They won’t be allowed outside the coop until they’re just a bit bigger.  So there’ll be some coop cleaning and set up today.  Fresh bedding laid, fresh food set out, and perhaps some bug filled greens to whet their appetite.

My goodness, this is fun.

(Linking up with the Barn Hop.)