Musical Chicken Houses

We did the chicken shuffle over the weekend, and the rooster is not happy with where he ended up when the music stopped.

Our four-week old chicks were ready to move into the outdoor coop, so we had to make room for them.

As we do every year, we had most of our older hens and old rooster butchered. In the pre-dawn hours (which is about 5 in the morning these days), I plucked the hens off their perches and put them in the transport crate. Because I didn't have room in the chicken crate for all of the birds, three of the older hens stayed on the farm.

I then cleaned out the old chicken house (great fun on sweltering afternoons), and, at nightfall, moved the one-year-old hens from the new hen house to the old hen house.

That's when the rooster got himself into trouble. He saw the new hens as intruders and attacked them. So, I moved the rooster into a portable rooster condo where he'll stay for a few weeks. Then, I'll reintroduce him to the flock. Sometimes time-outs work wonders for roosters.

I locked the young hens in their new home for 36 hours before letting them out to pasture. This helps them know where to return to roost at night.

Then, I cleaned out the new chicken house, and moved the four-week old chicks into it. They will have to remain inside the chicken house for another six weeks or so until they are no longer easy targets for cats and hawks.

When the music stopped, all the fowl were in their proper places, and I was tired and sweaty and happy the chicken moving chore was over.