Quick chickens on the prowl.

 A short post today as things haven't really settled down. I didn't touch on our mini dinosaurs at all yesterday in the late post, so today, CHICKENS!.

Our girls are doing well, we still haven't figured out quite what all of them are yet, but we're ok with that. We've tentatively named a couple of them just because they are so distinctive. Our smallest is also our most brave and adventurous. She's the only one who is ok with just being away from the rest of the flock which probably means she's going to get turned inside out by an enterprising fox or something of the sort. We've taken to calling her Dora the Explorer. She's also the one I'm most worried about running over when I come in the driveway because she doesn't know better than to jump in front of a moving vehicle.

Did I mention before that they've figured out how to get out of the run and are free ranging when we're not there? I don't know if I had, but they have been doing so. We get home every day to insistent chickens out and about in the yard. They tend to stay in the thick undergrowth around the wood line. Presumably due to instincts to avoid hawk or other aerial depredation. They particularly like tall leafy plants. fortunately they don't seem to really go for the garden area yet, it is a bit far from them and doesn't have any real cover around it for them to feel safe. We're thinking that it might be worth getting a second small coop rather than expanding this one so a second small flock of chickens centers over on the other side of the house. We were thinking about that because we mostly want chickens for tick control, and the other side of the house from where the girls are now is where we really want tick control. So far the coop has been heavy enough that I can't really move it far on my own, and I haven't been able to get enough friends together to shift it. So, for now it stays where it is which seems to work well enough. They like the sun, and being out and about. We're trying to figure out how they're getting out and have been progressively closing up smaller and smaller gaps until they stop being able to get out.
We genuinely don't think they can fit through the gaps in the chain link given that we've seen them try which leaves any gaps that are at least marginally larger. in the picture Above Right you can see a pile of wood and rocks, that's the biggest gap that I recently closed and we'll see if they are out when we get home today. Signing off for now, and hopefully next week goes a little more smoothly and I can give you better posts!