New girls

We lost our earlier hens to a virus, unfortunately, but bound and determined to own chickens, we waited patiently for the spring (well, late winter), and ordered some new ones from a hatchery. They arrived - all 27 of them - back on February 20, just two days after they were hatched. 5 of the tiny girls didn't make it through that weekend, but the rest ate and pooped and grew and grew... Eventually we sold or gave away all but 7.

Here they are, at about week 7, already enjoying the outside during the day.




Unfortunately, we still keep them in the garage at night, and the place is absolutely covered in "chicken dust." My poor car will take a few weeks to clean out. Still, they seem to like the place. Here are a pair of Barred Rocks (Tallulah and Tecumseh) and the Silver Laced Wyandotte (Little Silver, until a better name strikes us), posing:




This is the "Queen Bee," a.k.a. Coconut:




They seem to like to cluster on the step in the garage for a nap:



Just this evening, they decided the edge of the pen wasn't high enough for them. I went in the garage to wish them a good night (they get a little pet or a scratch each before I turn out the light), and I was astonished to find them up on the ladder:



This weekend, it will be time to move to their new home in the henhouse (new to them, anyway). It'll be entertaining trying to teach them to go in at night, but they'll get it after a day or two.