We have a small flock of five hens, who are getting more and more brave with exploring our neighborhood. We have 1 acre, and a 4 to 6 foot fence that surrounds about 1/3 acre in the backyard. When we first moved here, ours was the newest house in the neighborhood, built in 2007. Since we got...
They aren't. They sleep out on the "flight deck" we had for the pigeons; it's about 4 feet off of the ground. It's "outside" and cooler, so great for Austin summer but I think they'll likely move inside during the winter. And, actually, before it got really hot, two of them did sleep in a couple...
They do return to the coop at night.
We have eight 12 x 12 nesting boxes, stacked (like 4 boxes on top of 4 other boxes) about 5 feet in the air, because the "coop" was initially a pigeon loft. I've added a ramp (that they've used) and a kind of "running board" since I don't know whether they...
They do! And I have several nesting boxes up high and on the ground in there. They just never spend time in there during the day, so I wasn't sure whether they'd lay in there or not. Will definitely get some "eggs" out there ASAP. :) Thanks!
Our chickens could start laying soon, and they've started ranging out in our very forested, unkempt, past-the-fence back yard. If they lay their eggs out there, we'll never find them because we'd need to bushwhack almost an entire acre, and there's no way we'll do that every day.
So.
Do we...
Actually, I have the doors zip-tied and bungied shut, so they don't. One time, I was cleaning the coop with a new cleaner and it freaked a couple of them out, so they kind of holed up in the flight deck rather than running out like the rest of them did, so I opened it up and they jumped down...
Thank you for noting that. It's helpful for future reference. Fortunately, for now, at least, our flock very dutifully climbs into their repurposed pigeon loft every night, right at sunset! They just spend their days in the trees and stuff. :) At night, they get a very secure flight deck...
Anyone else have birds who like to be up high? Mine will perch in the trees (we had all 6 in this tree tonight), on top of the fence, up in my kid's playhouse, on the backs of patio chairs, etc.
These two... pullets or cockerels? If they're pullets, then it'll mean the lady who sold them to me hit 100% at 7.5 weeks, which is pretty impressive. :) The auburn one is just stunning; I think the prettiest of the lot, and is always the last one in the coop at night. The black one is getting...