First outing

The age difference is showing.   The oldest chicks have fully feathered wings, and are racing up and down the brooder with their wings open;  Number 6, the youngest and also from the smallest mum/egg, has only wing tip feathers and gets jostled a bit.

It's been baking hot this afternoon so we decided to put the chicks outside for a short spell.   It took me a while to set up the Electric Hen outside,  put out the feed and water,  block the end off the run we were using, etc etc. 

Then I had to move everything out of the shed brooder so I could step in and catch the chicks, and pop them into the large purple chick trug.

 At the moment they are still very young, with very delicate legs,  so I had to be especially creful with the moving and transporting. 

I let them out into the Run, and of course they didn't know what to do, they were overwhelmed by sights, smells and sounds.

It didn't take long.  One of them discovered grass, so they all discovered grass.  One of them ran round like  loony, so they all ran round like loonies,

After about 20 minutes they settled down for a rest.  I decided that was probably enough stimulation for one day, and we set about catching them.  That took a while.

I hope the good weather continues, we can get them out for a short time each day if so.