Coop D'etat

I don't think these would win me any prizes if I exhibited them at the County Show!  To me they still look quite cute though, in a scruffy kind of way.  They look like they have been had by a cat!  I am on holiday from work so I have had time to fuss my new babies and we are developing quite a bond.  (Well I am not sure they feel the same way but I'd like to think so).  They still spend most of their time indoors under a heat lamp, but they are on their third brooder box as they have grown so fast.  I have taken advantage of the mild weather and popped them outside in their coop when I can.  They seem to love it scratching and pecking around in the dirt, running, jumping and flapping.  I have spent far too much time sitting on a chair right next to them with a coffee in my hand.  I consider I am on 'Chicken Patrol' a very important duty.  I occasionally nip off to do the odd household chore or two but I have to keep popping up the garden to make sure they are ok. 

They are yet to discover the roost and the nest boxes they just like charging about outside.  They climb the ramp but don't enter the 'upstairs quarters' they just jump off at the top.  I think they maybe afraid of the dark.  I don't know anyone that keeps three adult chickens in the house as pets...I maybe a first!  When I bring them back indoors they crash out exhausted by their adventures.  They don't even cluck yet and I fear an egg is a long, long way off in the distant future.