I am amazed how quickly the new girls have settled in and how adventurous they have become. We have only had them a week tomorrow and yet they have now explored every corner of the run, every perch, both grit boxes, all the dishes and even the patio area which is always the last area for new girls to explore.
They seem totally unfazed by the other girls or by me or even by my camera. All they need to learn now is how to put themselves to bed at the end of the day but I am sure that won’t take much longer.
Last night I herded them towards the pop hole once more. They are so unfazed by me that it actually makes the herding more difficult as they resist me. They will press against my hands rather than move away from them and will occasionally turn and peck at me, cheeky girls!
Once inside the pop hole instead of settling like past girls they try to escape. I ended up blocking the pop hole with my hands until it closed. I am herding them in just minutes before I know it will close. They push against my hands as if they could move me by brute force! After the pop hole has closed they twitter away quite loudly.
I am hoping that as they have fully explored the patio area this afternoon they may be less resistant to going in tonight but time will tell.
It is a bit more tricky taking photos of five girls so you will have to excuse missing heads or blurred heads. This is the first time we have ever added five and it makes taking photos more difficult but I wonder if it also makes them more confident as there is safety in numbers.
The new girls master the ladder and the high branch perch
You can just see Salmon’s head behind Vanilla and Spangle has her head under her wing.
They check out the patio area
They check out the corner by the pop hole
Smoke checks out the grit and oyster shell hopper
They check out the big girls food dish
I am just loving how easy this integration has been and if it takes a few more nights for them to get the hang of bedtime I am happy with that. Compared to past integrations this has been a delight.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Look how pretty they are. They’ll sort out bedtime soon enough.
Tonight was the third night and I went up to check and they had put themselves to bed, hurrah! I am amazed they sorted it out so quickly. I think that now they have done it once they will be okay. I am so happy with them.
LOOK LIKE HAPPY CHICKS TO ME.
I think they are a happy flock. It’s a funny thing that the new girls run to me along with the rest of the flock even though they are too young for the treats yet. They don’t eat the corn yet but they run anyway as if they think that if the other girls do it they should do it too. It is quite sweet.
They do look really contented.
I have been amazed at how easily they have settled in and how confident they are for youngsters.