Today was the first day our backyard chickens, Agnes and Bella,  got to free-range! We put up some temporary fencing in our backyard, and let them out of the coop for the first time.

We got the hens from my grandparents’ farm where they were at the bottom of the pecking order. After about a month at our house, they are adjusting quite nicely, but still haven’t grown all of their feathers back from the “hen-pecking” at their old home.

Bella, who has been the shyer of the pair so far, was surprisingly the first hen to venture out of the coop.

There was some confusion at first:

Agnes was losing her mind with anxiety when Bella stepped out!

But then Agnes found the courage to join Bella on the patio.

Reunited and more confident by the minute, they helped weed the flower bed (and rewarded themselves with a few earthworms in the process).