2018 Newbie Chat!

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Rough night last night, but everyone is ok.... was doing yard work and had the 2 week olds in the run. My German pup was watching for me. I drove by on the tractor and saw one of the hens out and on top of the fish net that covers the run. Walk over and free her. As I’m getting her to go back in the coop/run most of the other hens get out. Well I’ll let them free range for a bit.... check in the Little’s coop and 2 are missing?!? Turns out they fit into a 1” space between the coop wall and the side of the run... had to take apart the side of the run and coax her out then fill the crack! Back to the hens and get them back into the run. Inside for dinner, come back out at around dark to lock the hens in and found 3 meaties running free! They are still small and I didn’t check to see if the bottom of the tractor was secure, there was a gap and they went looking for a snack. Then couldn’t find there way back. Of course they went into the tall weeds and got lost in the dark. All got zapped by the hot wire at least once as I chased them.... then I tripped on the hot wire, case first into the gravel driveway.... but everyone is back in there coops and safe!
 
Rainy day chicken cam

Screenshot_20180622-122746.png
 
Well, Rosewood being with the other chooks didn’t last long. She threw all of the eggs out of a nest this morning so she could brood on a golf ball.
:th
She’s in the garage, pretty pissed.
Gingko is in chicken jail in the coop. Her hatch mates are molting and she’s started intentionally pulling feathers out. I’m sure it’s stress due to the little chicks being introduced, and rosewood coming and going this week. Once things settle down I’ll try integrating. Poor Gingko is a loner and I’m contemplating just leaving her in Jail in the coop. & letting her free range alone in the afternoons. My husband thinks my chickens have more drama than the average soap opera.
 
PNW_Peepers said:
After much deliberation because I’m home 6 days a week, I’ve decided to free range my girls in the late evening to help combat all the boredom and stress problems I’ve been facing. Wish me luck and fingers crossed for no losses. I think I’d rather loose a hen to a predator instead of cannabalism.View attachment 1440827
Click to expand...
What’s been going on?
Do you have them confined to a run the entire day?
Does your run have 10 square feet per bird?
I hope you can free range them at least for a while.

We have a very large yard with 4’ chain link fence around some parts and then 6’ wood privacy fence between us and two neighbors out of three total.
Last fall my then 4 month old pullets were jumping the chain link fence to our side yards (on both sides of the house) where there’s no fence between us and the road, etc.
While our road is private and there’s no reason for anyone to drive down it unless they live here, some of our neighbors let their dogs roam or escape their yards.
Until we can fence the other parts of our yard we had to find a way to keep the girls in.
So we shut them in the run of the prefab coop and caught each one and clipped one wing on each.
Easy peasy!
They’ve never tried to go over since.
And honestly since the yard is so large, even just the part that’s fenced for now, they have plenty to explore and range in.
In fact, the babies and adults are always in separate areas of the yard and never mingle.
Also, I have left and been gone until almost dusk and haven’t had any problems either.

BUT...we are extremely lucky to have very few predators around here.
There’s a lot of wild prey for predators in my area too.
Tons of dove and quail as well as a river a couple of miles away.
I just think they have plenty to eat around here.
Plus there’s a large dog presence and like I said, some of them roam.
It’s been almost a year and I haven’t seen any signs of raccoons, opossum or foxes.
Just hawks and owls.
We have smelled skunk and seen them dead on the two busy roads outside our little neighborhood.
If I can’t free range, I don’t want chickens. Seriously...cooping them up bothers me a lot.
I would greatly downsize my flock if I couldn’t give them their freedom.
 
Yes, I confine them for the whole day. Their run is 8x30 so they each get more than 10 sq ft. I’ve been having a feather picking issue again. Today will be day three of free ranging in the late afternoon (4-bedtime). I have to be present the entire time they are free ranging. We have black bear, raccoons, mink, opossum, wandering dogs, & most recently cougar seen on our property. We live about a mile from an eagle sanctuary as well and yesterday I had to shoo them back into the run twice due to swooping eagles. I’ve been training my Cane Corso(Italian mastiff) to be a livestock protector and so far he’s doing good. Anytime I need to run inside he lays down and watches them.
 

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