Chickens in a tree

[kimboolah]

I love my 9 birdies and today they learned a new trick! They have an apple tree in their "yard". It's an old tree and my husband propped it up. Well they have been running up and down the trunk of it, but tonight, as I was coming out to get them into their "coop" for the night--they went waaaay up and just sat their all high and mighty. I had to flap and flail around and finally cajoled them into the coop. Soooo, is this new trick going to be a problem--should I plan on "roofing in" their yard with deer fence to keep them from flying away or should I clip their wings?

they are 9 girls, three browns and 6 various shades of brown.
Born April 19.


thanks!

 

[pkallaus]

Is there a problem with them in the tree? Mine all love to sleep in the trees. Only about six actually stay in the coop.

 

[kimboolah]

No, there's no problem with them in the tree, but I was just afraid they would fly over the fence. We have lots of critters around, so I don't think I should leave them outside, tree or no tree, at night.

do you think they will make a break for it and jump the fence during the day? We are not always home, so I would hate for anyone to high tail it out of there and be lost forever!

 

[roosterjerry]

 

[tabatha_westcott]

Mine sleep on top of our coop and they use the fence to get up there. They have never tried to get over the fence though. I'd just keep an eye on them.

 

[Barry]

Sleeping in trees is great if there are no nocturnal predators around that climb trees!

 

[barbara4rb]

When I bought my 1 acre almost 3 years ago, it came with alot of chickens. They all go up in the cottonwood tree at night. Up, up up, pretty amazing to watch. The neighbor's chickens roost in her cottonwood and elm trees too.

Two problems... my mommas who raise their young on the ground are raccoon food, so I've got "chicken jails" with moms/chicks in the yard. When chicks are old enough, I'll let them out and pray that momma takes the kids up the tree. (yes, lots of low branches so they can get up.) Second problem we've had is a great horned owl was plucking chickens out of the neighbor's tree in the pre-dawn hours. Not a nice thing. Guess everyone has to eat. :-(

 

[Lil chick chick]

My acre butts up to a farmers 50 acres. When I decided to buy 25 chicks and build a coop my husband went over to learn a thing or two about how to raise chickens. When he told the farmer and his wife (both about 80yrs old, you would swear they were 60) that we were going to build a coop they said "Aw, isn't that sweet of you, building your hens a house and all."

He showed us how he keeps chickens, etc.

His all sleep in an Elm at night. The Rooster starts up the tree first, hop hop hop. He gets about 20 feet up and settles in. The ladies all follow. Pretty cool to watch. We are in Idaho by "The Birds Of Prey" land. He says he has done this FOREVER and never had a problem and his chickens free range all day also. Crazy.

His community nest is hysterical, it is a big oval horse watering trough (I guess), It is turned over, upside down and propped up with a brick.The inside is lined with straw. Every morning I watch him collect his eggs. It's pretty cool. They do look like some very happy healthy chickens, mingling with the cows all day.

 

[nwgirl]

Personally I think if you have concerns then take precautions, because all it takes is one time. I have a narrow side yard my chickens are going in which they'll be allowed to free range during the day. However I will be clipping their wings so they cannot fly over the fence into the neighbor's yard instead of waiting to see if they can.

 

[schmije]

We free range our big chickens, but we keep our little ones in a pen to keep them safe. One problem we've had is that occasionally one of them escapes from the pen, either by flying over the top or slipping thru a gap in the fence. Once they're out, the only thing they want is to get back in. Since chickens aren't the smartest, they tend to run frantically around the pen without understanding that they can fly back over the top. They may eventually figure it out, but ours never have.