Cheryl's Hen House...

[TerryH]

Haha...I Know,Right!!??
My group of pullets last year were crazy loud at point of lay...SMH.
I always laugh when folks think no cock/erels means their flock will be quiet and peaceful.
At least the girls aren't creating their cacophony when it's still dark out. 

Hows the newbies getting along?

The little ones are doing well. Growing like crazy. Still all piling on that one rung on the stripper pole to sleep. We sat and watched them Saturday night. It's quite a dance for all 6 to get on there. Won't be many more days until they are not going to fit. That should be interesting.

Another interesting observation is that the old ones and the new ones are often right by each other at the fence separating them. The all dig down in the shavings/dirt and just lay there like they want to be close. I'm going to start giving them a little scratch at the fence as you suggested and see how that goes. I had to put some hardware cloth on the bottom of the 2x4 wire when we first got them because the littlest one would just walk right thru the fence. Won't be long now that I can remove that so they can have a bit more access to each other.

 

[aart]

Wow surprising they fit thru 2x4 hole at 15 weeks!!

You're not going to accommodate them with a 'better' roost?
Poor Birdies!

 

[TerryH]

Wow surprising they fit thru 2x4 hole at 15 weeks!!

You're not going to accommodate them with a 'better' roost?
Poor Birdies!

Poor birdies = not lol...

There is one of the Marans that is younger. She is more like 10 weeks. She is the escape artist. I took a regular old style turkey crate that I took with me when I got them. She went right thru that too. I also had the folding dog crate just in case. Glad I did!!

 

[TerryH]

Wow surprising they fit thru 2x4 hole at 15 weeks!!

You're not going to accommodate them with a 'better' roost?
Poor Birdies!

They have other options but choose that one rung. There are other rungs and I left the landscape timber on the stumps in there as well. They are looking pretty spoiled to me.

 

[aart]

Quote: I guess.....since it's temporary......will be interesting to see if they choose another 'branch' on the 'tree'.
Could be quite the 'Chicken TV' episode.
I'd put a couple on another branch.

 

[TerryH]

I guess.....since it's temporary......will be interesting to see if they choose another 'branch' on the 'tree'.
Could be quite the 'Chicken TV' episode.
I'd put a couple on another branch.

Probably wrong thinking and might be crazy of me but I don't really want them too comfortable where they are. I foresee trouble getting them to convert to sleeping in the coop already. There is no way that me putting one or more of them on a different rung is going to work at this point. They are going to have to work it out for themselves. Watching them jockey for position is quite a sight already. A first timer trying to be proactive.

 

[mobius]

Probably wrong thinking and might be crazy of me but I don't really want them too comfortable where they are. I foresee trouble getting them to convert to sleeping in the coop already. There is no way that me putting one or more of them on a different rung is going to work at this point. They are going to have to work it out for themselves. Watching them jockey for position is quite a sight already. A first timer trying to be proactive.

Quite agree. Silly chickens. Chicken juggling won't work now that they have established their preferences. They will just wait til you leave and rearrange themselves.

Will be interesting to see what happens when they move to the coop. Might have to take that one rung down...or they can sleep outside and be decorative.

 

[TerryH]

Quite agree. Silly chickens. Chicken juggling won't work now that they have established their preferences. They will just wait til you leave and rearrange themselves.

Will be interesting to see what happens when they move to the coop. Might have to take that one rung down...or they can sleep outside and be decorative.

One thing about the divided run is that I can leave the door closed to that section and they'll have no choice but to sleep somewhere else. Hopefully it will be in the coop. :/

 

[aart]

Quote: Good point about them becoming attached to the pseudo tree and not roosting in the coop.
But .....you could leave the temp wall up until the learn to roost in coop after integration.

 

[TerryH]

Good point about them becoming attached to the pseudo tree and not roosting in the coop.
But .....you could leave the temp wall up until the learn to roost in coop after integration.

I'm contemplating on leaving the wall up permanently and just leaving the door open unless I need to close it. Would be nice to have an instant isolation/integration area built in.