In the past week, the chickens have moved into their permanent home: a large room at the end of my friend’s lower horse barn now known as the Chicken Palace. Martha, Cassie and Sunny now have a nesting box, multiple perches made of branches and an old wooden latter, and a heat lamp for winter nights. There is a large run off the Chicken Palace for daytime activities, though we still take them for walks and watch them hunt grasshoppers. Although they look quite large in this photo, they are still extremely light weight so we keep an eye on the cats when they are outside. I would never have believed I would some day pick up a chicken, but these hens are so clean and gentle that I enjoy petting them.