This was extremely informative and well written, and with enough humor to keep you reading to the end. My neighbor will be thrilled to learn that her birds are not alone, as they roost in the big tree by their coop.
Just finished this - what a great article! Very informative and very personably written. Thank you for writing it! I am going to consult my chicken book and then chickens for the anatomy of where that knee-ankle point is and what it looks like.
Great article, love the humor too. But of course there are more ways to get the chickens to roost inside the coop.
I have a couple of bantams who preferred (past time) to sleep outside too. But at the moment I have everything under control.
I used you’re 3th method in combination with locking them up in a run to get them inside before sunset.
I don’t give meat but some mixed grains to fill they’re bird-stomachs before they go to roost. Sometimes I give a few dried mealworms too. My coop is covered with strong bird netting, so they cant get out.
Now they always choose to roost inside, even if I am late (dark already) with the treats. Because they’re habit to roost outside has been broken. And if I am home after dark the chickens are safe behind a automatic popdoor.
Maybe it helps too that I don’t let them free range all the time.
Thanks for reading and rating the article. Sometimes some decide to break the habit of tree hugging at least for a while. I've had a couple of years when some of the pro tree huggers went into their coop every night. One evening I went to shut them up and they were all up a tree again.
Very entertaining and informative article; thank you.
You've talked about the T-pole method before, so it's good to get more detail on what it is and how it works. My first flock roosted in a dense conifer tree, so that even when I could reach them, I could not navigate a route out between the tangled twiggy stuff (more like your bushes than your open trees). At the time I assumed (wrongly) that as it was so hard for me to get them, the same would apply to a predator. Now the 'treats just before bed' method to get them back to the coop works for me, but when I do get another tree hugger, and I'm sure I will sooner or later, I'd like to be prepared - can't pop off for suitable plumbing supplies at the drop of a hat! Is there a variant for dealing with dense conifers? There's no way I could maneuver a pole inside that tree.
Thanks for the reply to my question; I can't see how to reply to it there, so edit here
I think my tree climbing days are over (esp a propos your opening comments on risks v. benefits!), but I can prune out branches if necessary. As you say, they had a preferred branch, so if it happens again I'll probably go that route. Thanks again!
Thanks for reading and rating the article.
I've been asked by a few people where I live to extract chickens from trees and high places. As you mention, some trees are almost impossible to get a pole into and a chicken down staying attached to the pole. In such cases it's a matter of climbing into the tree and getting them. I have a small bag I hang around my neck that I stuff the chicken in and climb down. I think the treat training may work best for such trees.
I've found that the chickens here have a particular branch they roost on; except for the pullets and cockerels initially who roost a bit away from the adults. I have one conifer tree here that gets used to roost in on a regular basis.
I trimmed some of the lower branches to enable me to get the pole in
Really fabulous article. It was informative, but written in a very entertaining way with bits of humor sprinkled throughout. Shadrach is very knowledgable and an excellent writer!
Great information! Loved all the pictures you added to the article.
Only thing I'd do differently - there are a lot of pictures with very few words.... then a little later in the article there is a whole bunch of reading with no pictures.
Well written and the pictures are fine. I doubt that Oswald convinced anyone that he could climb that tree. Here I had a flock of game cross bantams that roosted in the white pine trees for years. Until, that is, the GHO found them.