Their first outings

Yesterday and today I let them out of the brooder box to mill around in the large garden pots that we have tomato plants still growing in. They seemed to be getting a little fussy with each other in the box so I thought maybe they were feeling a little "cooped up"!


The pots are in the sunroom so it's safe and warm. I wrapped each pot with 1/2" vinyl harware cloth and put them in 2 to a pot. Talk about some happy chickens! They were singing so loud, digging, kicking up dirt, and taking dirt baths! Click on the title to this post to see the video of Ruby taking a dirt bath... Singing Eagle is helping?

Clara decided to try her wings out... again... this time she got out. My faithful and super sweet dog, Cutie Pie, (a 75 lbs German Shepherd mix) heard the commotion and found her sitting on the table next to the pot singing to high heaven. I'm not sure if she was saying "HA! I'm out." or "Hey, put me back in! What have I done?" She kept trying her wings out all day. I finally added a perch to the hardware wire which seemed to be exactly what she wanted. So today, Clara was the first to use a perch! Their legs are still a little wobbly when it comes to balancing on a hand, finger, or perch, so this is a milestone.

Another first, today I caught Clara and Ruby sleeping with their heads spun around and tucked into their wings (unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me). It must not have been too comfortable for them, because later I found them in the usually position... splayed out and face-planted in the pine shavings!