Let me know if you figure out a solution. Mine have been outside with the adult hens for a couple of months now and they still prefer to stay in the coop if the adults are in the run. Once the adults leave, they will leave, but if it's a day where I can't let them out to free range, they stay in...
I have a hen that is currently in solitary due to repeatedly attacking my pullets. They have been together for months now, and she continues to be extremely aggressive towards them at bedtime. She works herself up to the point of overheating, and is injuring the pullets as well. I thought I had...
Nestera "The House" chicken coop, size large. Well suited for five large breed chickens, or eight small breed chickens. Only used for roughly two months before chicken math got us and we had to upgrade to a larger coop. I loved being able to hose this coop out and not having to worry about rot...
Sorry, I wasn't sure what section to put this in...
I am now getting 5 eggs a day, and have 7 more still to come online. I am soon going to run out of room on my counter for all of these eggs. Turns out my friends and family don't eat eggs very quickly either. 5 eggs a day probably isn't enough...
Before I made this thread I had picked up a bag of Kalmbach 18% Chick Feed, now I am debating just keeping them on that until they are all laying. It is higher protein than the Kalmbach Flock Maintainer. I haven't been able to find Flock Maker locally yet.
Also, as an aside, I started putting...
No plans to get babies again for a while. This round has been exhausting! I do have some very specific breeds I would like to get eventually, but I plan to get started pullets, and that won't be for a couple of years.
Well, last night I had to mess things up all over again. Big thunderstorm was rolling up, so I had to get everybody in early. Thankfully the littles all seemed to know something was up and went right in in one pack. The adults I had to take in one by one. Of course, they then had the menace the...
Last night I left everyone to their own devices. The pullets and one hen put themselves to bed in the coop. I still had to call four of the hens to the run and they did their usual nightly last minute eating and drinking routine. There was still the squabble for the hens getting the top roosting...
I had a rooster (well, 9 weeks old) that I rehomed because he was already mounting the girls, which was causing all kinds of confusion and issues. :barnie
My run door isn't automated, but my coop door is. My run has lights, but my coop doesn't. My biggest concerns are coyotes prowling near dusk which is why I have always brought them in around 8 pm before true dusk.
Ah okay, so I need to put the hens into the coop, and then the babies in the run and then the coop? Hopefully the hens won’t go after the babies as they come into the coop… I also think I will have to push back how late I put everybody away which makes me nervous too.
So the routine is:
Call the hens, they all come running and put themselves into the run. They start happily drinking and eating their food and wandering around the run (10’ x 20’).
Track down the pullets. Start returning them to the coop 1 by 1. I don’t dare put them in the run because I have...