Release the chickens!

Today was moving day!  The chickens finally got to move outside into their new home.  The chicken coop isn't 100% complete, but the last bit of painting and modifications can be done while they're down there.

Here is the hen house!  It came out so cute!  The purple door is for the chickens to go in and out.  The green door is an access door when we need to clean inside the hen house.

Once the chickens start laying eggs, we will collect them through this yellow door:

Here are the nesting boxes where the chickens are supposed to lay their eggs:

This is what the nesting boxes look like from inside:

We put in two perches at different levels inside the hen house, which was the first thing the chickens wanted to try after we carried them out to their new home:

Then they finally emerged from their new house:

And tried out their new feeder:

Viola paused to contemplate something on the ramp up to the hen house:

While Bailey politely asked to be let into the run ("I just want to sniff their feathers, I swear!"):

They kept racing around the sand, poofing up their feathers, pecking on everything (including my toes), and Viola even caught a fly straight out of the air!  They seem to be having a good first day in their new home.

Also, props to my dad for designing and building the hen house and to my mom for painting it.  Props to my brothers for helping build the chicken coop structure, and to my boyfriend for hauling 1.3 tons of sand down there.  They all did a lot more than that during this process, but they all helped it come out amazing!