Well, we went mobile with our chicken house. The question was, would the ladies cooperate?

Would they come in and out of their doors now that they had to hop up and down from the trailer bed? Would they free-range and forget all about their nice, warm house and start nesting down in the driveway and bushes again? Would they forget all about their cozy, clean nest boxes and start hiding their eggs again?

Would they use the door now that they have to hop up and down off the trailer?

Well, we have our answers.

We have free-ranging VICTORY!

There’s just something so quaint about a farm sign complete with free-ranging chickens around it.

They were out pecking and scratching all afternoon over the weekend.

Then around 5 o’clock when it started getting dusky, they started ranging closer and closer to home. By 7 o’clock, Mr. Fix-It was able to go out there and shut the doors and they were all snug and safe inside. No need to sneak around in the dark with a flashlight and a pillow case to catch anyone. (Ok, we don’t use a pillow case, but the rest of your mental image is pretty correct.)

I had missed their little clucking and cooing in the yard!

The Cowboy opened up their doors again the next morning while he was doing his other chores. They didn’t come out right away because it was still dark outside. But they wandered out shortly, sleepy-eyed and ruffled up. It was so funny to watch them stretching and fluffing up and starting to hop around the yard again.

There’s just nothing like watching them chasing grasshoppers and scooting between the shrubs after beetles.

Two days doesn’t mean they’re fully trained. But I have high hopes. We’ll also see if they go back to the house this week when it rains–or if they revert to their bush-hiding habits again. But so far I’m pretty excited!