Our “babies” finally spent the night outside with the big girls this week, and everyone is still clucking, so I guess we will count it a success. We had been slowly acclimating the four youngsters to the older hens by letting them spend most of their days outdoors, but we were also gathering them up at night to nestle safely into their basement abode.

As you can imagine, the first couple of nights outdoors all four babies were standing at the gate waiting for their free ride inside. They softly cooed at me as if begging to be scooped up and toted indoors, so it broke my heart to manually place them inside the coop. . . but I did it (at the urging of my hubby). Finally the girls got the hint, and when we arrived last night to lock up they were nowhere to be found. I momentarily panicked, thinking they had become a late evening snack for one of our many predators, but we quickly found them all tucked into their new living quarters where they knew they should be.

We still have two distinct flocks walking around the Three Acre Wood, but I’m sure they will eventually establish a pecking order and manage to get along. In the meantime, it’s fun to see how much our chicks have changed. Below you can see then and now photos of Cinnamon. She is such a sharp girl and enjoys hanging out near people. Below that is all four girls (although all you see is chicken butts) eating a few Cheerios as a late afternoon snack.