3 small hens in need of loving, caring home (South Florida)

[nicoleee]

Your coop looks nice! And plenty big enough for 3 hens. I it’s the real question is whether or not you really want to keep them. If you do then invest a bit of time to train them like suggested. Keep them in the coop for several days. Several times a day as you can go out and sit in there with them. Be calm so they learn you are to be trusted. Have small treats like mealworms. Pick your call phrase. If you’re not supposed to have chickens pick something like ‘here kitty! Here kitty-kitty’ and toss out a few mealworms. Wait several minutes and they are doing something else. Call the phrase again and toss the mealworms. Do this until they come over while you are in the middle of saying the phrase. Always give the treat. You’ve trained them to come when called! Some hens catch in super quick, others may take a couple of days.

Unless there’s a light shining into the coop at night your coop is probably ok for them for sleeping. From what you said they are roosting properly as they go to the same place every night.

Aw ok thats great advice! I think i should give it a shot i do love them a lot and would be happy if i could get them to cooperate with me lol. I’ll try this out thanks again!!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

So happy to read this. Wishing you and your girls the best! I hope this works out

 

[getaclue]

After several days in the coop, you should be able to let them out during the day, and they should return on their own in the evening to roost. Especially when bribed with a few treats.

 

[getaclue]

Oh, be sure to have some food, and water in there for them too.

 

[jlwquilter]

I’m glad you’re going to try! You’ve got nothing to lose. Please let us know how it goes!

 

[nicoleee]

This is just a little update. This is their day 2 in the coop but i feel like im about to crack and let them out .. so i have a question if anyone can help answer? I went to check on them this morning and found several feathers around the coop. They do this every time theyre in there for too long but is it bad? Maybe theyre just over preening or something? Is it generally nothing to be worried about? They have food and water and I occasionally give them treats inside but could it be from boredom? What can i do. I havent seen them dust bath or do much but preen, pick at stuff a few times and sit/stand in one spot. Theyre so used to being out all the time tried to make a run for it when i opened the gate ...

And oh i figured out a plan for the future! On days that I have a tight schedule i will keep them inside for the day; the rest of the days they can be free and if they dont happen to know to get in at night after this I can have the necessary time to help them in

 

[jlwquilter]

It will take a day or 2 for them to settle into being cooped up. What they are doing is normal. I had to coop my 4 leghorns last Thursday. They did exactly what your hens are doing. A lot of pacing, trying to get out, etc. I also almost caved! But I stuck with it one more day and they settled. They stopped pacing and trying to fly out and now act totally calm and fine. It was a big change for my hens too.

They may be bored a bit in addition to dealing with the big change. A cheap form of entertainment for them is to buy a big piece of broccoli and hang it by the stall using a rubber band around the stalk and a string/twine tied to the rubber band and hang it head height in the coop. You can tie it to the wire side if you don’t have a more central hook. They will spend hours picking at it instead of picking at each other. You can do this with a cheap cucumber too. Walmart sells big wild bird seed bells for around $5 and that works as well.

So what I’m saying is give them another day or 2 and you’ll see them calm down. Also give them something to distract/entertain them that they’ll love and is cheap to do.

Really appreciate you updating us!