This is an angry chicken.
Last Sunday we moved her over to her “summer” digs, out of the barn and to the pen and coop behind the house. I was a little nervous about how she would react to the young chickens, and even more worried that they would be afraid of her.
She’s not angry that she has to share the coop with six young chickens. She doesn’t care about those greenhorns at all. She just wants out. Meanwhile, the young chickens were instantly curious about her. “Mama!” They’re taking the rejection well.
I kept her in for five days so she wouldn’t run back to the barn but would “bond” to the new coop. It is important that she comes home there at night. And that seems to have been enough.
I opened the door Thursday afternoon to give her a little freedom. She hung around the pen, going in and out, pecking around some trees and in a straw pile.
Yesterday I opened the door in the morning and she spent the day getting reacquainted with the wider area. I was gardening and she hung out by the garden (though not in, thanks to the new and improved garden fence. At one point she made a full round outside the fence and then moved on. Later we watched her from the porch as she made a full round of the house. By 8:30 she was back on the roost.
This, my friends, is a happy chicken. I’m happy, too! Good to have her back.
