Chicken-Sitting, Meet the Chickens, Part 2

If you missed the tale of our new chicken friends, see Part 1.

Here's the 5 hens and one rooster that now live on our little mini-farm.  They are sweet little creatures and are getting less wary of us each day.

The four dark brown hens are Rhode Island Reds.  The lighter red hen is a New Hampshire Red and the rooster is a mystery breed.

So far their favorite perch and hang out spot is the old potting bench.  The nest boxes and tree branch roosts have yet to be used.

The prime egg laying spot is on the floor buried in the straw in one corner.  We've harvested at least a dozen eggs since they've been here and that is without any supplemental light.

The frosted, too far gone greens in the garden (this patch of kale is uncovered) make a nice snack for everyone in the morning.

We have a steep learning curve with this particular type of animal, but we are making progress.  We've applied castor oil to the chickens legs to combat leg scale, Blu Kote to the rooster's rear to stop pecking by his ladies, figured out where best to hang their feeder with the correct feed and purchased a heater pad so we aren't dealing with frozen water all winter long.

The chickens are still waiting to use the chicken tunnel...

Maybe because our landscape now looks like this?

 It's pretty, pretty 'round here.