Today, it seemed the right day to move the Littlees out of their Go and into the Cube, which means that they will be sharing the closed run (albeit with a divider down the middle) with the Big Girls. The Littlees have had daytime access to their half of the run for a couple of weeks, and they've visited the Cube before.
We cleared out the junk from their of the Run, and I moved their water, their chair, and their feeder from the Go pen. Early afternoon, I shut their old run so they could nbo longer gain access.
At about 2.30, which is half an hour earlier than usual, I shut everyone away. The Littlees had a hanging feeder and some swede, and were happy mooching about. At 3.15, when they normally think about going to bed, I put a torch inside the Cube. At 3.30, I went out, opened the back of the Cube by sliding the roof open a bit, and called them . They came and had a look, but all went out again.
At 4.15, I coud see that they were hanging around by the exit door. I went out, and could hear that they were calling, distressed at being in the wrong place. I opened the back of the Cube, and called them. Astrid and Sunshine, the two Golden Pheasant Leghorns, came straight up. The others came up the ladder but wouldn't come in.
After about 8 minutes, I had 4 of them in. I slid the pop hole shut, and waited. I then opened it a crack so the torch shone out, but the girls couldn't get out. I called, and Sylvia climbed up the ladder. I opened the pop hole so she could get in, and Summer ran out. I did the same again. Summer was much more distressed, and was running around the pen. I thought about going round the front to catch herbut I decided Id wait until it was dark to do that. I really wanted her to find her own way in.
Eventually, she climbed the ladder. I opened the door for her, and she went in, hesitantly. When she was in, I gently closed th epop hole, said good night to them, and shut the roof.
We don't have an auto opener on this Cube. The one I want to buy has an App, and the Android version should be available at some point. It would be possible to buy the older version and then retrofit a new circuitboard when the App is released on Android, but the additional cost is quite big, I've been hanging on, and hanging on, waiting.
The evenings aren't too bad, it's the mornings that are going to be a bit tough. (Every time I say that, I chuckle at how things have changed. I used to start work at 6am!)
Lets hope that it's all OK tomorrow.
