Our turkey hen, Penelope, is a Narragansett. She hangs in the chicken coop her mate, Benjamin Franklin, and the laying hens only at night. Our coop is designed with two separate inside areas and two separate yards. She free ranges during the day. When she first tried to raise a clutch, we surrounded her chosen place with fencing but something got to her nest and she got away with some lost feathers. Her second one was in a bad spot and our bird dogs were pestering her, so I shooed her away with a broom, stole the eggs and incubated them. 6/9 eggs hatched and they are now three weeks old and locked up in the coop separate from the laying hens. She disappeared a month ago and came back with four baby poults. I lured her into the coop yard last night, but she flew out and her poults followed her. She was back on the nest this morning. Today, she has been free ranging around the farm and the bird dogs have been on leashes all day. We can't do that to them for too much longer. I intend to redo the fencing on the empty side of the coop yard. If I can get her in there, she will be safe and all will be well with the bird dogs. I have heard that six feet is high enough. Is that right? It is too big to cover. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?
