Suspended chicken coop- why not?

[duluthralphie]

I drink beer with him on a weekly basis, there's no permit. I live on a residential area in a rural county, so while I have conveniences of a neighborhood, we can still burn leaves in the fall and I go shooting at a neighbor's house two streets over. A lot of the municipal codes that counties normally have simply don't exist or are very vague/lenient. We don't have a mandatory leash law, for example.

I read this to mean you can get a 1,000 chicks!!!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I read this to mean you can get a 1,000 chicks!!!

In theory vs in practice. I could still get a complaint for say, crowing roosters, or excessive odor, and be required to remedy the situation. Thus my tiny flock.

 

[Sutremaine]

They would NOT let go of my hand I had to physically place their feet, but they keeled down quickly after that and didn't seem like they were going anywhere. Maybe they will have a chance at sleeping on the roost now...

My hand and mag lite had to be sanitized and I have either strengthened or destroyed what little trust my birds have in me, not sure which.

If they settled down quickly after getting their feet on the roost, they probably weren't too bothered.

One of ours has had a slightly poopy bottom, and we've been combing out her butt feathers every week or two weeks to keep it down to a level where it can be dustbathed and groomed away. She was quite stressed out by being held and restrained, but when she was put down she ran off the run and into the coop like nothing had happened. It seems that as long as you're calm during and after a stressor, the chickens can brush off the experience pretty quickly.

 

[aart]

Quote: The keeper being calm, cool and collected definitely helps the bird calm down...
....and the more you handle them they usually kind of get used to it and don't struggle quite as much.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

The keeper being calm, cool and collected definitely helps the bird calm down...
....and the more you handle them they usually kind of get used to it and don't struggle quite as much.

Like most animals! I've got an uncanny ability to remain calm.

 

[aart]

Quote: Exactly!

That's good, me too, but my heart can pound when they start flapping to get away.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Roost training has been successful. Had to fill the boxes with bricks ultimately, but they were all on the roost when I woke them up this morning

 

[duluthralphie]

Roost training has been successful. Had to fill the boxes with bricks ultimately, but they were all on the roost when I woke them up this morning

Good job!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Unblocked the nesting boxes today and the birds are still sleeping on the roost when I checked this evening. Does the golf ball in the nesting box thing work? My birds still aren't laying and I'm expecting they will soon, though I didn't know their age when I bought them.

 

[User395221]

Does the golf ball in the nesting box thing work?

I think so, but I don't really know (they could just be picking that spot for other reasons). I put a fake egg in my house and that's where they laid the eggs. (the fake eggs are "in the wash" and they still lay in the nesting boxes)