This morning we had a big visitor in our yard. A turkey vulture was sunning himself, and probably smelled the dead raccoon in the hollow tree below him………I just had to share the pictures.

 

Onto the chickens: with the weather being over 60 degrees this week we decided to get the automatic door installed. Brock worked on installing it (we’ll post about that process later) and I painted it. While I was painting we opened the big door and let them explore the outside. They were very hesitant at first but eventually pecked around at the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took down the partition and gave them the whole coop now, minus the nesting boxes. We walled off the nesting box areas so they don’t start sleeping/pooping in them. We caught one laying down sleeping on the 2×4 roosting post so that’s promising. Hopefully she’ll teach the rest. As it warms up and they feather out more we’ll take away the heating lamp. And when they’re bigger we’ll start training them on the automatic coop door and unsupervised grazing in the run outside.

They’re starting to really stretch their wings and fly up and down to the roosting posts.