Chicken Paddock #1

hens in paddock
I am really enjoying our chickens! They are very well behaved and a lot less work than I imagined. Tomorrow they will move into a new paddock. This is how the first paddock looks after spending the days in there for a week. The chickens tried to roost in the pigeon pea tree and completely bent it over. The past two nights they have tried to roost on the now horizontal trunk of the tree and I have had to carry them one by one into the more secure coop. It took them a while to explore the entire area. The first few days they only went from the coop into one corner of the paddock and stayed there all day. I had to coax them into other parts and now they seem to know the whole area is theirs to wander about.

hens in paddock
I have been feeding them a snack of beetles from the compost pile. Now, every time I visit the chickens they run to me in anticipation of a tasty treat. With the exception of the beetles and the feed from the store, I have found that I have to introduce new foods to them by tossing it near the chickens. If I simply leave something, like plant matter, in the paddock they won't touch it. I did that with some coconut pulp that was left over from making coconut milk. I left a few small piles on a board in the paddock. Days went by and no one touched it. Today when I took pictures I tossed some near the chickens. They realized it was food and quickly ate it all. I sort of feel like Mother Hen to these birds. They obviously need someone to show them what is safe and what food is good to eat. I'm happy to do this for my girls.