Chicken Moving Day

Yesterday was chicken moving day!  Last week we worked on building a new coop in the pasture that can be moved around all three pastures, so the chickens can help spread the manure and cut down on the fly population.  The new coop isn't completely finished, but it's nearly done and last night we were able to move the birbs into their new digs.  We waited until dusk, after they settled into their old roost, and gently picked them up one-by-one and carried them into their new roost.

It took them about an hour for all the chickens to test the new roosting branches and find which branch and what spot on the branch they liked the best.  I'm not sure if it's determined in some sort of 'pecking order' or if they have free choice?  Lance, the head rooster (Black Australorp), waits outside the coop entrance every night for all the hens to roost before he goes in.  He's very protective, a good roo.  After he went in we knew it was moving time.

The move freed up the old coop so we could move the French Black Copper Marans from the brooder into a coop of their own. They're now living in the run along the barn.  Unfortunately, our hatch produced far more roosters than hens so it's going to be awhile before we get any quantity of the chocolate Copper Maran eggs.

All the chickens will be 'cooped up' for a couple of days as they adjust to their new living quarters, then it's back to free ranging hen-mania...

New Pasture Coop

Chickens Settling into Their New Roosts

Original Coop in Run Along Barn