Sunday was a big day for the new girls

Saturday just before bedtime both Pebbles and Caramel were on their little coop roof. I could tell that they wanted somewhere to roost.

Pebbles and Caramel on the little coop roof

Good as gold they went into the little coop a few minutes later but I started thinking about getting the right perch for them in the chicken shed. I had read that they need a perch the size of a broom handle so decided that we should buy a broom handle for them.

On Sunday my lovely husband fitted it in the chicken shed. He took out the existing perch that was across the angle as the main flock all use the perch at the back. This meant we could position it lower down and the new girls wouldn’t get pooped on.

New, smaller, lower perch

Sunday morning at first light I let the new girls out into the other side of the run. They found the food dish straight away.

Straight to the food dish

They look so tiny on the patio

They set off to explore the new space

They marched down to the end of the run

They found the log and said hello to Speckles on the other side of the wire

They found their way back to the patio area

And back to the food

I stroked Pebbles

They had pellets and water after their expedition

I showed them inside the chicken shed

I picked them up and put them in the shed so that they would know where to go in the future. I lifted Pebbles on to the perch in the hope that she may remember it later.

They found their own way back out of the shed.

They set off back across the patio

Heading back towards the run

I love the way they go everywhere together. Where one goes the other one follows and they are never far from each other.

Caramel spotted the other water

As Caramel passed the other water she stopped to investigate it. I imagine she may have recognised it from the farm. She couldn’t quite pluck up the courage to actually take a drink though and this was the closest she got to it before deciding to catch up with Pebbles.

The new girls sit near Peaches and Barley

The new girls have a dust bath

This was the first time we had seen the new girls having a dust bath.

When I went back after I had taken this photo, Peaches and Barley were also having a dust bath on the other side of the wire. We decided that as the new girls were sitting and dust bathing so close to the other girls, perhaps it was time to let them have some time together.

I opened both of the gates. As we had expected Speckles was the one that went for them. I used the water spray to deter Speckles. The new girls ran to the ladder.

The new girls find the ladder

Up the ladder they go

Right to the top

I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t be able to get back down. I needn’t have worried. Pebbles led the way. She walked down the straight bits at the side of the ladder getting a bit faster towards the ground. Caramel followed her lead and they both made the ground safely.

I opened up the corner of the wire under the ladder and showed them both how to go through the gap. I wanted them to know where all the escape routes are.

I decided after an hour that this was enough for the first day. I put the new girls back on their usual side and closed the gates and the wire in the corner.

We felt it had gone well for the first day. The new girls have learned where the chicken shed is, how to get up and down the ladder and where the escape routes are.

I am going to continue to give them some supervised time together each afternoon. I am not ready to leave them alone together yet as the new girls are so tiny that I don’t want to risk Speckles having a peck at them. Speckles is the only one that went for them though. All the other girls didn’t take any notice of them.

I know Speckles has to show them their place but I don’t want any pecking with such tiny girls so we will take our time and wait until the time is right to advance to the next stage.

What an adventure it has been for the little girls today. I am going to move on from calling them the new girls to calling them the little girls from now on.