A nice warm day arrived. Perfect weather for the girls’ first day outside…well, actually, outside the house but inside the dog carrier. They hated the move like they were going to ‘morph’ into dogs never again to be chickies. Once all four were together life was better. They surveyed each other and realized that no one had become a dog. Whew!
Out into the backyard and a closer view of what will soon be their home…the hot pink eglu (not in photo). The chicken carrier (nee dog) was placed in a warm sunny spot. Not to be left out, the dog, Dreamer laid down nearby. Is he guarding the chickies? the carrier? or just lying in a warm spot?
The girlies seemed to like their cabana replete with newspaper and waterer. While they experience all the amenities mentioned in the travel brochure, I removed the feeder, roost, and grit bowl from their dirty bird cage. Then I carefully pulled off the wide clear tape that had somewhat kept the corncob litter in the cage, and even more carefully picked up the cage and took it outside. The wheelbarrow was ready to accept the mélange of old poop, corncob litter and spilled feed, soon to be rolled out to the compost bin. Using my friend’s WetVac, I vacuumed up several pounds of corncob litter that had been kicked over the edge during their frequent wild dance numbers. I was eager to find how Ms. Barred Rock’s fresh poop on the carpet (see The Great Escape) had fared with the ½ cup of litter I poured over it. Homemakers International will be praising my name…it all dried up and left no spot on the beige carpet.
After the cage and tray was scrubbed, dried in the sun, and reassembled in the bedroom the girlies returned to their fresh digs. I’m not sure they appreciated all my work, although they do look longingly through the window into the backyard.
As the smart ones among you suspected, those girls would eventually fly off the edge of the pen. True, it happened once to Lacey, who immediately panicked and flew back in. Then it happened to Henrietta, but it was no accident. She's too clever.
This morning I opened their bedroom door to find all 3 of them walking around on the floor outside the pen inspecting everything at beak level. It took several attempts to get them back in. I'm a human. Surely I can outsmart 3 chickens? It was questionable for the first 2 hours! I finally wedged them into a corner. They are now in the pen with old baby gates placed across the top. We all rested after a dose of Rescue Remedy.
