run free, ladies!

It required looking up into a steady rain at the end, but by Saturday evening I had

the chicken coop secure enough to let the hens out of the dog carrier for the night.

So how does this affect the impending collapse of the world economy?  Thank you

for asking.

By allowing the girls constant access to the nesting boxes, they will hopefully start

laying again.  They produced seven eggs in the carrier the first night they were here,

but nada since.  When they get back to business, it will end our dependence on 

foreign fowl, stengthen our local diet and thus fortify the continent.

Sorry for the fuzzy logic.  I’ve been listening to too many U.S. politicians lately.

Anyway, to further maximize their productivity, I’m building a run from the coop

all the way around the garden, so they can wander about eating weeds and bugs.  It

won’t be a true free-range experience.  The run is completely enclosed by heavy 

fish netting.  But how much could it take to fool chickens?  Their brains can’t be

much bigger than a snow pea.

The first time the door to a larger world dropped, the girls were unsure what to do.

They peeked out a bit but wouldn’t venture forth until I bribed them with feed on

the ramp.

They wandered around a bit, but when I closed off the coop to work on the inside,

they chose to gather near the door.

I did all I absolutely needed to do to make the coop safe, but after that faceful of

rain I decided to knock off for the day.  The hens had been using the dog carrier as

an intermediate stop on their way to the roosts.  Since it was no longer necessary

to house them in the carrier, I loaned them a ladder until I could install a halfway

point the next day.