Walkabout

The chooks have been in residence for a week now and the plan was to let them explore the whole back yard once they had settled in. Saturday was a nasty day with constant rain and an icy wind (snow down to 400 metres) and being outside was no fun at all so we waited for Sunday which was a beautiful sunny day. You know you're acclimatised to Hobart when a 14 degree day feels hot.

Before we could let the chickens out Sofia had to give them their instructions.

It took a little while but they finally came out when we put some food outside the gate.

As they became more confident they explored further afield but were still definitely up in their corner of the yard.

The black chook (Barbara) seems to be the tamest one and walked right up to Sofia when she was sitting next to the apple tree.

All this exploring was thirsty work so they found some rain water in an old lid. Sofia thought his was such a good idea that she gave it a try too. She's going to have a super strong immune system.

The garden also has much better places for dirt baths than the pen so the girls spent some quality time in the dirt.

The plan is to let the chooks out into the backyard every day. We've fixed the gate so that we can open and close it more easily and keep them shut in. All we need now is the cheesy sign "Beware of the chooks - please shut the gate!".