Chicken in the woods (and more woods)

[Insnesnakos]

That's awesome! I love chickens warming up to people, it's just so wholesome!

A few days ago my birds decided to sunbathe next to me, it was very nice of them

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

A few days ago my birds decided to sunbathe next to me, it was very nice of them

That's so adorable!! My chickens are not too fond of me, but the new one is warming up to me as I give her mealworms every now and then

 

[rolohman]

Aaand...."Atilla the hen" is definitely...not....a hen. Was holding out hope, but the camera caught some definite crow attempts this morning.

I think we will keep him unless he tries to hurt us!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Aaand...."Atilla the hen" is definitely...not....a hen. Was holding out hope, but the camera caught some definite crow attempts this morning.

I think we will keep him unless he tries to hurt us!

Maybe he'll stay mellow and be a good boy.

 

[rolohman]

I hadn't mentioned (and it's good for my own records) that the pigeons are molting and look a bit silly. Probably 9 weeks old at this point. Dust Bunny has big spikes all over their chest and head (new feathers, I hope!) and just generally looks a bit mussed. Cookies and Cream is still a bit more tidy, but I see some spikes. The two of them are grooming eachother nearly constantly, and Dust Bunny is kind of going after Cookie's beak in what may be an awkward "Billing and Cooing" attempt. Cookie puts up with it a bit but then turns away.

Since I suspected they may be discouraging the chickens from roosting at night, I've added a roost to the pigeon area that is the same as what the chickens have (2x4, whole width of coop). Tonight I'm going to try blocking off the nests again to encourage them to get on out of there! I'd really like to clean the coop out and start with some new wood shavings, but it feels like there isn't much point if they aren't roosting where the poop boards can catch stuff. I *know* they are comfortable there since some of them roost there for hours during the day!

 

[Insnesnakos]

I hadn't mentioned (and it's good for my own records) that the pigeons are molting and look a bit silly. Probably 9 weeks old at this point. Dust Bunny has big spikes all over their chest and head (new feathers, I hope!) and just generally looks a bit mussed. Cookies and Cream is still a bit more tidy, but I see some spikes. The two of them are grooming eachother nearly constantly, and Dust Bunny is kind of going after Cookie's beak in what may be an awkward "Billing and Cooing" attempt. Cookie puts up with it a bit but then turns away.

Since I suspected they may be discouraging the chickens from roosting at night, I've added a roost to the pigeon area that is the same as what the chickens have (2x4, whole width of coop). Tonight I'm going to try blocking off the nests again to encourage them to get on out of there! I'd really like to clean the coop out and start with some new wood shavings, but it feels like there isn't much point if they aren't roosting where the poop boards can catch stuff. I *know* they are comfortable there since some of them roost there for hours during the day!

I didn't know pigeons molt

 

[rolohman]

Evidence that the pigeons are refusing to sleep on their (safe, protected, scattered with peanuts) side of the coop and the chickens are now TRYING to roost but are afraid of the pigeons.

That’s four chickens sitting on top of each other while three other chickens roost on the neighboring roost right over this camera.

 

[Insnesnakos]

View attachment 3671102

Evidence that the pigeons are refusing to sleep on their (safe, protected, scattered with peanuts) side of the coop and the chickens are now TRYING to roost but are afraid of the pigeons.

That’s four chickens sitting on top of each other while three other chickens roost on the neighboring roost right over this camera.

They went from not roosting to suddenly roosting in the highest spot

 

[rolohman]

And they stayed there all night! First lesson- my poop boards are too narrow. Lots of poop on the edge and below on the ground. I’d used scraps of the weatherproof siding and may have some left under our other shed. Going to fix that before I replace the icky bedding with fresh.

I'm not planning on doing edges + PDZ or sand for scooping in the poop boards, since the coop is 3 ft high and 3 feet deep and I can't reach to the back. I've got them in nice brackets that I can easily slide in and out, so I dump/scrape everything into a bucket in the morning. I do lose the effect of the absorbency of the PDX/sand it's ability to reduce odor/ammonia for poop that accumulates in between my daily cleanings, but I've got a good amount of ventilation, I think. The top of the coop is open to the slanted roof that goes over the coop+run (hardware cloth over whole thing). It's got about 7" along the full 10 feet of the coop on the uphill side and 3.5 inches on the other, plus triangular wedges of a similar size on either side. Plus a window facing into the run on the pigeon side, gives me about 10 square feet of ventilation for 7 chickens and 2 pigeons.

I'm going to have to be careful about chicken math, now that we have a rooster, though! Kids are already talking about chicks. I'll just have to put them in charge of convincing the husband that we need an expansion.

 

[rolohman]

Night #2 locked out of the boxes. Midnight looking sadly at the wall of six chicken/rooster butts on the 34” of roost on that side of the henhouse.

Don’t worry, Midnight made it up there too!!!



That is too much chicken bum for one roost.