They're outside, in a secure run, for as much of the time as the weather allows. It needs to be dry and warm, so some days they've been out for about 7 hours, otherdays they haven't been out at all.
The shed brooder has been extended again. We've now removed the plastic stuff that we use to make it round (or oval), and we've put weldmesh panels along the open bit to make it harder for the enterprising youngsters to fly up and perch.
Hand taming is coming along really well. 7 or 8 of the ten now rush to be picked up when they see me get the treat bowl out. The treats are actually just Garvo Alfa Chick feed, but they get very excited about it.
It's great when I want to catch them to take them outside, or to catch them to bring them back in again. I hope it continues as they get older.
The remaining 2 or 3 just don't really want to be picked up, which is fair enough. I usually end up taking the 7 or 8 who do out to the garden, and then come back for the stragglers. If there's one straggler, s/he cheeps loudly and pitifully when it realises it's left on its own. I usually leave it alone while I take the feeders out, and then come back and catch it.
This tactic has sort of worked with Number 6, who is the youngest and one of the stragglers. He's still one of the last 2 or 3 to be picked up, but he hasn't been the last one for some time.
One of the smallest black ones, so one of the youngest, acts unlike the others. S/he doesn't want to be picked up, which is OK. If she ends up on her own, s/he doesn't cheep loudly. Today she was left on her own while I conveyed the others (7 then 2) out to the garden run. I came back in to the shed to get her, to find her perched up on the top of the weldmesh, waiting. S/he's an interesting one.
Back in the run, a couple of them (Penguin - who is the Leghorn/Legbar cross from a bought-in egg, and a little black one - possibly the interesting one mentioned earlier) have tried climbing the ladder up to the coop. Neither made it to the top, even though the pop hole was open.
Once the group starts to take an active interest in going up and down the steps then we can consider moving them to the outside coop. It's only possible to even vaguely consider this if the weather forecast is warm and dry, and even then we would still have an electric hen on in the coop itself.
Otherwise, they'll stay in the shed overnight.
