The babies we got in February are now 10 weeks old. About a week ago we started letting them out of the truck box to free range in the yard with the adults.

The truck box is up in the back field and not many adults make it that far away at this point. So far the two flocks seem to be keeping separate from each other, with the ducks quacking loudly in between them, at the pond.

The few birds that have made it back with the babies are all Golden Comets, our most curious and wide ranging birds. They seem to get along ok. The chickens mix so much more amicably when they have wide open spaces to roam.

Here you can see we got the fence in along two sides of the back field to help protect the little ones from four legged predators running through and snatching them. They are still pretty small and vulnerable.

When I open the door in the morning they come flooding out, picking at the tall grass and flowers in the field.

The other day I was out there refilling food and water when I heard that tell tale clearing-of-the-throat, not-quite-perfected crowing of a young rooster. I followed the sound to this guy, whom I have suspected was a rooster for some weeks now. He’s getting better at crowing day by day and is starting to chase the girls around already too! Oh how fast they grow up!