Grass! Grass! Grass!

Following moving day yesterday, we let the girls out to graze for the first time today. The fence that goes around the coop isn't quite put together yet. First we have to find some strong people to help us move the coop a few feet over so it fits in the allotted space. This is one of those times that it would be nice to have a big dude or two around. Sigh.

So, we let Mildred, Flo and Phyllis out in the cat run (sans cat) because it is secure from predators and fairly escape-proof. There, I said it. We are THOSE neighbors who not only HAVE a cat run, but we put our CHICKENS in it.

While it is admittedly difficult to gauge the emotions of chickens, I am fairly confident in saying that the girls were thrilled to be running around eating grass for a few hours. They certainly seemed more relaxed than I've seen them in a while.


Pretty different from the peeps of just a few weeks ago, no?

Our neighbors are now all fully aware that the weird little house in back is for three chickens. The little boy who frequently visits his grandparents next door seemed excited about them, but he's two and he doesn't speak any English so all I could do was hold Mildred in front of him. His Dad asked a few questions and I made it clear that we will not be keeping any roosters, so hopefully that will help calm any fears our neighbors may have had. We can only talk to the youngish generation of the two families on both sides of us since we don't speak Chinese. We're hoping that the fact that they are very Chinese will help them accept the chickens as not too freakish an addition to the neighborhood. We also plan to ply them with eggs.

Here are the girls relaxing inside their new pad. It's a cozy, second-story property with eastern and southern exposure. I think they got a great deal on it considering home prices in Seattle these days.