The Chicks meet the Captain

The babies finally got their first taste of the great outdoors, though they remained enclosed for their own safety. It also gave me a chance to give the brooder a good clean out without chicks escaping and running amok inside.

They seemed to enjoy being out but the most interesting thing to them seemed to be a visit from some of the older chickens, namely Captain Hook.  It was another interesting view into chicken behavior.
Captain Hook circled the enclosure several times looking for a way in or a way to get the chicks out.  He seemed ready to have them join the flock and the chicks were fascinated by him.  When he was unable to get to them directly he started showing them how to scratch and peck at the ground and even tried feeding them grass through the holes in the fence!  I was under the impression that as a rooster he would have little interest in them but here the Captain was showing off some fine fathering skills. I realized later that I should have taken video instead of still pictures-Doh!