&nbsp;
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara</em></p>
The chicks have gotten too big for the long cage. This is good. It means they are growing.

This is bad. It means we have to move them.

Rachel and I decided to move the larger ones first. I chose 14 hens and gave them to Rachel who clipped their wings. Then we put them in the bantam coop. There was lots of noise initially but eventually they calmed down.

The chicks remaining in the long cage on saw horses still seemed to be picking on each other. This was not good.

We decided to move the long cage to the ground in the bantam yard. Then we open it during the day and let the chicks run around. At night, we put them back in the long cage and close the doors so they are safe.

Watching 32 chicks run around on the ground for the first time in their short lives is hysterical. They tend to stay in groups. One will run across the yard and others will follow.

Bella finds this particularly entertaining.

She spends long periods of time just watching them. Fortunately, none have come over the fence to “play.” The bantam yard keeps them entertained for now.

The next step will be moving them over with the large hens. They need to be a little bit bigger. I tell them every day “Eat and grow, eat and grow.”