Winter Sports for Chickens !!

The new group of Leghorn chickens have finally made it out of the cellar and into the nursery coop outside.They hatched from the incubator and 25 peeps yelled Happy New Year !!!!  Now, seven weeks later,  12 of them were crowing in the cellar.Yes, I have 12 roosters in this bunch.Now they are becoming acquainted with their new house,whispering to each other,"WOW, this is a mansion!". They scratch through the fresh pine shavings and can actually run around.

This little guy stayed glued to the door and kept looking outside , probably in wonder of the environment around him. "You mean there's more to life than the four walls of that brooder?" 

I believe in winter sports for chickens , so I took them for a toboggan ride across the farm .I have five brooders similar to this one but I prefer to make less trips so half the chickens went into each trip. 

I actually think they liked it. They had never seen the sun before.Their parents live in the adult coop on the other side of  the house, about 1.5 acres away.Eventually they'll join them.I still have 25 Jersey Giant peeps in the basement , but they are still little.They will take over the nursery coop in another 2 weeks or so. I shall look forward to new crowing from the bottom of the cellar stairs.

The daylight hours are growing longer and egg laying is dramatically picking up. Some renegade hens send me on egg hunts to the spring house, under junked appliances out back and now recently......this is why you must remember to close your car windows at night. A sudden leap in the car while you're racing against the clock to get to work........just might make you late. This is why I must always keep an extra clean uniform handy , waiting to greet me from its hanger. I never know WHAT experiences these animals will bring on any given day.