O cluck - we did it, we're mummy and daddy again

[Ger-annie-um]

After talking about it for ever, after pestering you all for advice, we finally (after having the chicken house erected for the past year with no tenants) got 5 young ladies. 2 light sussex, 2 columbian blacktails and a black nero. POL. although I still have no idea when any of them will produce and egg. Very excited tonight when, after two nights, we watched them put themselves to bed. Any tips to make their lives enjoyable and easy would be gratefully received. At the moment we just have layers pellets, the odd handful of corn and some cabbage leaves for them. What else can we safely give them and what's the best thing to stop them getting bored? They can't be completely free range, but have an area about 9m x 6m to roam about in. We've built a sheltered area for them to duck the rain.

Sooooooooooooo excited and soooooooooooooo scared to death

[Feral007]

Congrats! We also have just started with chooks. We have 3 rhode island red/issa x's, and a random rooster. They are totally free range during the day........but I frequently find them in the hen house at midday! The scariest thing is that sometiimes they come up to the fence and the kelpies get very, very interested. Otherwise they seem to amuse themselves.