New red ladies join the flock

14 of the older ones coming for food, including Big Roo near the front, and Little Roo to the right of the maple tree

Our new total is 23 chickens, but that may not last long since one of the 6 new red ones refuses to be closed up at night. We just picked them up Saturday afternoon—6 new "red sex link" hens already laying eggs. The difficulty with buying adult chickens though, is that they don't know where they live.

2 of the new red girls

The plan was to close them up in the fenced area outside the coop for the first 2 nights. They were in there for maybe an hour and 2 of them escaped. When I went back to investigate and try to reunite them with their sisters, there was only 1 left in the fence. I could see them flying/jumping over and running off.

Big Roo and a friend

We managed to close up 5 out of 6 the first 2 nights. Because I can't tell them apart, I am not even sure it was the same one who spent the night outside up in a tree. One found a home in the goat shed on top of the hay bales, and a second one decided that her real home was in the coop and spent both nights on top of the crate in there with both roosters to protect her. She must be the smart one, or the pretty one going after the boys...or both.

We are hoping they resolve their coming-home issues soon. Tomorrow is a late night for me at work and I won't be able to help The Husband with chicken wrangling. At least the lone straggler seems to understand how to stay safe out there in the cold, cruel world full of critters who would love a nice chicken dinner, like Cyrus for instance.

3 new girls in the fenced area with the old dog house

Monday night update: At about 6:30 pm, I saw 3 red girls back here by the house. Two were in the apple tree, 1 on the hood of the CRV. The Husband escorted the one on the car back to the coop, but didn't lock her up. When I went to close up the coop around 8 pm, only the one pretty girl was up on the crate with the boys and the other cool girls. I am pretty sure she wasn't the one from the car. 2 were in the dog house, meaning they were where we trained them to go. I had to come back and pick the 2 out of the apple tree, for a total of 5 locked up for the night. Magically, Hub went out later and found the car girl back on the car hood, so for the first time, all 6 are safe in the coop.

Of course this could all fall apart tomorrow night when I work late... or it might just all come together, right now...