Thanks, Ryan, for the egg wipes!

Who knew there was a wipe product that I didn't already know and love?
Ryan dug up these babies in Granville yesterday. And they compost!

Sparrows seek shelter from the rain

Sealing the escape route

In an attempt (so far successful) to seal off Sally's escape routes from the run, we've created an elaborate cats-cradle lattice over the taller structures in the run.  Even after we clipped one of her wings, she was hopping up on to the coop and then hopping onto the fence in order to get out.  The last thing we need is a chicken on the loose, but we also didn't want to permanently affix anything to house.  This was our compromise, and for $3 in string, it seems to be working.
It strikes me that this might work well for bird-of-prey proofing a smaller run.

Rabbit hutch

This photo is the rabbit hutch up close.  Again, this was totally unnecessary, but for $60, it gives the ladies something else to do.  And the busier they are, the less they hassle Sally.  Sally, BTW, has finally settled in pretty well.  Joan is molting and I think the power vacuum in the middle of the ranks has made things slightly easier on Sal.  Peggy is still #1 chicken in our back yard and she doesn't let the others forget it.  She's not the nicest hen, but I guess someone's got to be the boss.

Notice Andrew's ingenious chicken ladder (a board with wine corks nailed in for traction).  The ladder/board that came with the hutch seemed too steep for the ladies to give it a try.  Truth-be-told, they could hop in without a ladder if they wanted.  But they didn't want.  And we're suckers.

Chicken Hooverville

The chickens are back, full-time, in the fenced run on the side of the house. Their Shangrila of summer, with the run of the back yard, is over. Frankly, I was getting sick of hosing chicken poop off the patio. And in looking ahead to the winter, when hosing isn't an option, this just seems more sensible. The chickens have adjusted well.
There's a lot going on in the run these days. We've added a rabbit hutch as a second get-out-of-the-rain option (totally unnecessary, but we found it on Craigslist for not-too-expensive). We put out an old
chair and a roosting bar as vertical options. They like the chair quite a bit and largely ignore the roosting bar. We hung that one measly CD to mesmerize them with its reflections - they've started to notice it exists. They're getting more kitchen scraps, too, mostly to assuage our guilt. All and all it's so much better & I'm cleaning the floors in the house a lot less often.

Watching the magical CD

Someone on BackYardChickens recommended CDs as entertainment for chickens.  Ours seem not-terribly interested.