New hens are always nervous, so it’s best to give them time to get used to their surroundings and the folks who feed them. Most of the time Tiffany and Annagramma are remaining in a relatively small run with their own house. I don’t want to risk proper free-ranging yet as they are rather flighty and would be difficult to catch, but today I gave them a chance to move about a bit more in safety by putting them in the fruit cage. As it turned out, they enjoyed some fresh grass, but didn’t explore further than a few feet away from the gate… which made them very easy to catch when I wanted to return them to their usual run. Here they are, being regarded by the oldies:
Who’s that in there?
Lorna’s not bothered
Yummy grass
Harumph!
This is interesting
Hello!
The Snail of Happiness 
davidprosser
/ August 22, 2014Neighborly acceptance?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 25, 2014So far, so good… we even put little Aliss in with them for a bit. She gave them a peck and they were very submissive, so that bodes well.
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katechiconi
/ August 22, 2014They’re looking happy, and not nervous at all, even being given the beady eye by the older ladies. You must show us when they produce their first eggs!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 25, 2014They seem quite good, but do get startled by food arriving from the sky (oldies are used to a handful of corn being thrown in their direction).
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katechiconi
/ August 25, 2014It won’t take long for them to realise that all good things come from above, as it were!
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narf77
/ August 22, 2014I love how the oldies are watching them closely…”any sudden moves!” 😉 Lovely to see chooks happy. We rarely see ours from dusk till dawn. I release them from the chook coop in the early morning where they run out clucking maniacally and then they just arrive back at the chook coop at night to be shut in safely. Soon we will have to start counting them as it’s spring here and that means CLUCKY CHOOKS! We live on 4 acres of bushland and do you think you can find a clever and most canny chook if she doesn’t want to be found? It’s like the proverbial needle in a haystack except with camouflage thrown in 😉 Ninja chooks!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 25, 2014Even in our garden we sometimes can’t find them! However, the magic bag of mealworms always makes them reappear!
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narf77
/ August 25, 2014I think I need a magic bag of mealworms…I have the magic slice of cheese but my girls are pretty bolshie and less tame than yours and I have 24 of them…
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katythenightowl
/ August 25, 2014It’s so nice to see the new girls – albeit gingerly – finding their feet at last 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ August 25, 2014Hopefully we’ll have an integrated flock in a coupe of weeks
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