Introducing the Chickies

It was the end of the first full day of residency, so it was time for Chicken Exercise Hour, or rather, Chicken Exercise Ten Minutes, but that doesn't sound as cool. We loaded up in an empty tissue box and unloaded into a nice, clean part of the garden for exploration.

At first the girls were not terribly into the idea of the Great Outdoors.

But soon it was discovered that there were interesting and tasty things on the ground, especially those little red spiders that were actually very easy to catch.

And I got a new experience, too: mother hen.

So meet the chickies: Here's Joan, a Barred Plymouth Rock:

And Carole, a Buff Orpington:

Liza, an Ameraucana:

And Debbie, also an Ameraucana:

After an exciting exercise interlude, they were all happy to get back under the heat lamp in their own little chicken habitat.

They spend a surprising amount of time walking around or through the branch in there. But you may be able to see that soon, because while the girls were out eating spiders and experiencing the wonders of the natural world, Noel was inside installing ChickenCam(tm).