Last night Brock was putting the chickens in for the night and had quite a scene when he came in. A Red had flown to the top of the coop and was resting on the cord for the automatic door. He re-hooked the cord so this can never happen again. But we do know they can fly pretty high now!

We added some paper shreds to the coop for the deep liter method  and stirred it up real good. They have been dust bathing a lot. We plan to add a tire full of ash/sand. This will be their feather bath and will keep mites down.

They were able to be outside all day today. The Orpingtons were all out at the same time, while a Rock or Red would come out here and there. We have noticed multiple times that the 5 Orpingtons always sleep next to each other real close. The other 9 birds are roosting on the bar at night. Maybe they like each other, or this has something to do with the pecking order.

Joey has stayed out of the coop, but tries to nip at the chickens through the fence. This will continue to be a work in progress!