235 Girls

"Chickens!"

Yep, all 235 Highline hens are here. We got off of work half an hour early this evening so that we could come back together at dusk to teach the chickens to roost! Ha! It was so much fun. I'm sure that excitement will wear off as their excrement rubs in, but being my first night of hen handling, I had a ball! One by one, five of us rounded up all 235 of the girls and set them in the coop to sleep safely together, side by side. We tried to get ahold of them around their body and on the outside of their wings. Most of them were wanting to settle in for the night anyway, so they were pretty docile. I was amazed when most of them just let me pick them up! I thought they would try to peck my hands, but none of them fought me off. Well, a couple of them cried bloody murder, but I cooed at them and told them it was okay, and most of them settled down in my hands. Sweet little things.
I didn't bring my camera, so I'll have to post a picture of all of their little tail feathers lined up when we do it all again tomorrow night. Eric says it takes about a week or so for them to catch on to sleeping in the coop on their own. 175 of the girls are ours, and the other 60 belong to two other folks who will be picking them up later this week. We are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the eggs. Feels like Easter all over again!
Ok, here are a couple more pictures: