[raeburg]

Talking earlier about instinct,while i was digging the garden earlier with all 5 girls around my feet all of a sudden three of them ran to take shelter under a bush while the other two stood rigid stretching their necks and looking upwards towards the sky.
I decided to join in with the other two and also looked upwards to see a very large heron flying over us very slowly. 
How do they know that this could have been a bird of prey that could of attacked them....instinct 

Dunno about that mine were terrified of an hang glider

[alibean]

Have had my ex-batt 'ladies' for eighteen months now and they have been a complete joy.  Sadly have lost 2 of the original eight (one due to a prolapse and one just went in her sleep).  Anyway, my advice would be to just go for it!

That first morning I got up at 6.30 (couldn't sleep) and opened the pop-hole.  The first hen (since named Dora the Explorer) stood at the top of the ramp and looked at the sky, completely bewildered.  I sat with my coffee and had a little 'happy cry'. Half an hour later she ventured down the ramp followed by three others. 

The moral of this story is that I had to lift the other 4 four out, and put them all back in again etc for the next two or three days but they soon got the hang of it.  A dish of spaghetti later and they were my new best friends!  They have decimated my garden and frankly i don't give a damn!

[hillbilly]

Well...where to start ?
Chooks arrived unexpectedly on Wdnesday (my birthday)! My PPOH got a call to say we could pick up earlier than expected so he arranged for them to go in a freinds conservatory(!! ) until we got some emergency accommodation organised.
They are happily ensconced in his tractor shed (lucky we had one!) and I have been desperately trying to do all the right things for them while he desperately tries to get their home finished

They are pecking, scratching, (don't they make lovely noises ), eating drinking and ONE LAID AN EGG  (I think it was Cariad), I haven't dared let them out but they're starting to come to me when I call. Couldn't get ex bat feed in a hurry so they're on layers pellets, a bit of corn, veg leaves and any slugs I find.

Phew! Hope I'm doing OK they seem happy enough though one was really aggressive to the others today.
I have a worry about the coop but I think I'll start a new thread on that one. It's about the perching thing....