Evening and morning routines

I have done a few posts on getting the bedtime perches to the right height. I knew there was a problem when I went out to the girls at first light and the automatic door was open but none of the girls had yet come out.

I realised they were struggling to get down from the perches in the restricted space and were not using the ladder as I had expected them too. Never expect them to do what you think they should do!

Since we took out the ladder and lowered the perches they have gone back to squeezing under the door as soon as it starts to rise which I have photographed recently.

I thought I would continue looking at this habit a bit further. They come out so quickly that I knew they must have already jumped down from the perch and were crowding behind the door waiting for it to open. I decided to open the big door a little and shove my camera in and try to capture them behind the door. Once again the photos are not great because I can’t really see what I am going to get as if I open the door a little bit more they will all squeeze through the smallest gap just as they squeeze under the pop hole. They are so eager to get out.

You have to make allowances for a night time’s worth of poop under the perches. I like to keep the shed clean and don’t like poop in photos but to get this early morning shot I had to put up with the mess being on show.

I thought I would start with the night time line up. I have taken a photo on each of the last three nights. The pattern seems to be that as it’s got colder they prefer to all perch on the back perch rather than the perches on either side.

None of the girls seek out being next to each other except for Peaches and Barley. Sometimes as they are bumping around and sorting out their positions I can hear Peaches and Barley making a sound that is almost like crying, a tiny whimpering sound. I would look in thinking that they were being pecked (some of the girls, in fact mainly Peaches and Barley give poor Speckles a hard time at bedtime) but no, it was simply that either Peaches or Barley couldn’t find a space next to her soul mate. They would sound upset if they couldn’t perch next to each other. Honestly, they are like children at times!

Bedtime three nights ago

Peaches and Barley have managed to get next to each other at the expense of Emerald being pushed off of the favoured back perch. I love how the girls look at each other.

Bedtime two nights ago

Peaches and Barley didn’t manage to get next to each other on this evening. This was when I could hear the whimpering because there was no space next to Barley so Peaches had to settle for grabbing the remaining space between Toffee and Emerald.

Last night’s bedtime line up

Last night all was quiet during the bedtime routine because Peaches and Barley had bagged their spot next to each other and all the girls had managed a spot on the favoured back perch, hurrah! Still love how the girls look at each other.

This morning the automatic door still wasn’t open at quarter to eight. It was raining heavily and still quite dark. I opened the main door a crack and stuck my camera in. I have included all of the photos that I took.

Behind the door

Toffee, on the right, looks as if she has just landed down from the perch.

We want to come out

Hurrah! The door is open

Lets get out of here

It was so dark out in the run that I gave them a sprinkle of sunflower hearts on the patio so that they didn’t need to go out in the dark. It made no difference though. As soon as the sunflower hearts were gone they were off out into the run.

A sprinkle of sunflower hearts on the patio

Although they perch up well before dark they are always willing to come out in the morning in low light. They obviously know that at night it will get darker and they need to get in before that happens but in the morning it will only get lighter so they are happy to come out as soon as possible.

Their enthusiasm to get out as quickly as possible makes me smile but then again it is understandable after a long night of being shut in. Once again I have to say that I know both the girls and I are looking forward to the longer days of spring and summer.