The girls have started free-ranging.

About all I've done on the coop recently is painting the outside. The red is all finished except the clerestory wall. I've primed all the fascia boards white and need to get white stain on them too. Once I finish painting the trim boards, I'll get the trim pieces on and some hardware cloth over the windows. Meanwhile, here's some recent photos and videos of the girls and guy. Since they're now used to their coop and know where their secure roost area is, I've started letting them out of the run into the fenced portion of the backyard to free-range for a couple of hours in the evenings. Close to 8 p.m., most of them head for the coop and any that don't are easily run in with just a little encouragement.

6/11/11 - Enjoying some leftover watermelon.





6/6/11 - The first evening I let them free-range.



6/9/11 - They're getting a little braver, venturing onto the tree that I still need to cut up.


6/12/11 - Since letting the chickens free-range in the evening, one Brown Leghorn has flown up on the fence around the backyard, but none of them have flown out yet. When she took off from here, she touched the top of the run fence with her feet and then landed inside the run.


6/16/11 - They like eating the walnut leaves. I hope they're not bad for them.




6/6/11 - This was the first time I let the chickens out of the run to
free-range in the evening.



6/18/11 - This is the chicken eating the Dobsonfly.