New chooks are settling in

It's been four nights now and the chooks seem to be feeling much more at home. They all found their own way to the roost by the third night, but two seem to be having some inhibitions about jumping up to the perch. Maestro picks them up and settles them in, otherwise they'd probably be choosing the laying box to spend the night. We'll watch them again tonight and see how they get on. I had removed the ladder I made as I wasn't sure if it was more of a hindrance than help, but these two birds may just need it to give them a 'leg up'.

A couple are also cluing in to the fact that when we appear calling 'took, took, took .. ' that we're dishing out some food. They come running over now, wings held out and then staling as they get closer. It won't be long before they're all rushing up, jumping at us to try and be first for the best bits.

Yesterday (Sunday) we started to train them to use the feeder. It's kept open all day with a pin, pellets and some grain mix inside. I don't want to put too much food in it at this stage since the wild birds are pretty quick to realise free food is out. Once the chooks are all settled for the night, we close the feeder to deter any mice. After around 2 weeks, we'll move the pin down a peg so that the lid is partially open. They will have to get used to standing on the platform to open the lid fully. This movement is detracting, but if they can see the food, they usually persist and learn this behaviour in a few weeks. After that time, the pin is removed fully and they know to stand on the platform to access the feed.

Funnily enough, the leaders emerging in the group are Maestro's "Commanders"; the brown ones, with Mariposa's "Sally" running a close 3rd. Within three days we could definitely see that a pecking order was being established already. This, of course, could change as they mature.