Chickens scared of tarp!?

[binders]

I bought a coop thru the web and have since discovered that it leaks all over the place when it rains. Luckily that doesn't happen very much here. That may be why it leaks, because the wood has dried up and shrunk. We had a really hard rain the other night and in the morning I found that the pine shavings were wet all over the coop, even in the nest boxes. I decided to cover part of the run and the coop with a tarp for rain, wind and snow protection. The run is a chian link dog kennel and the coop is inside it.
Well now the chickens will only go into the part of the run that is not covered! I don't know if they will be willing to go back into their coop come nightfall. More than half of the run is covered and they are pressed up against the far side of the fence. I would let them free range but as I said I don't think they will head back in tonight.
I tried getting them over to the "dark side" by putting out some scratch and they came over for a minute and then ran away. It doesn't help that it is windy today and that is blowing the tarp some. Any suggestions?

 

[gryeyes]

Tarps are pretty scary things.

To chickens, especially when first introduced.

Chickens are leery of just about ANYthing new. Mine were terrified of the galvanized garbage can in which I keep their feed. After a few days, a chicken pecking at it did not explode or get zapped by lightning or eaten by the lid snapping open on its own, so they are much more accepting of it, now. Some even jump/fly to perch on the handle of the lid.

When they were chicks in the brooder, I apparently did not know the peas I put in their treat dish were Mutant Killer Peas. They were afraid of that whole end of the brooder for a whole day.

 

[stilldeb]

Mine are afraid of the "fluff can" -my Rubbermaid can that I keep the pine shavings in - and the clean out can that I use to put the dirty shavings in - that one, too. They aren't afraid of their tarps, anymore anyway, so there is hope. I put some new flock blocks in yesterday (they have had them before), but because they were new, they had to wait until one big brave chicken sneaked up on it and pecked it first to decide if it was a killer flock block before they all tried it.

I had a wooden coop that also shrunk and leaked and ended up running a small bead of clear sealant between the slats of the roof, which helped a lot. You might try that.

deb g

 

[Dirtyhip]

Quote:
OK, this makes me laugh. Mine were afraid of a strawberry the other day. Really, girls? It's a strawberry.

 

[Judy]

Yes, lots of posts on here like this. I changed the nest boxes' pine shavings to hay today; it will be interesting to see where they lay tomorrow....

 

[MontanaChickenLady]

I have to say here.......since we are all talking chicken (there is a reason why they are called that I believe).....

I just can't even believe what sets them off. I put a nice piece of cedar split rail fencing in the compound thinking they would love perching on a little bit of something and maybe looking for bugs in it and it scared the liver out of each and everyone of them. They would not come out from under their coop (it's on stilt-like legs) and they kept trying to fly up while they were under the coop. I was so afraid one or more of them was going to get hurt. I finally had to remove the piece of wood because they would not come out into the compound. It's been raining here for a couple of days and the girls have been getting wet and my little Silkie roo is really getting wet as his feathers do not shed water as well as the hens' feathers do. I bought a tarp to put over the top of part of their coop and all of their compound hoping it wouldn't freak them out. My husband and I tied it down well with those zip ties. They all seem to be OK with it and not at all bothered by it. I'm shocked because I really thought they'd go nuts.

 

[binders]

Well I guess they are chickens. I really shouldn't expect them to be too brave. Hoping they will go in tonight.

stilldeb:
I had a wooden coop that also shrunk and leaked and ended up running a small bead of clear sealant between the slats of the roof, which helped a lot. You might try that.

I would try that but I don't see any leaks in the nest box area and I think the wood has warped and shifted enough that the rain was running off the roof and down the sides of the rest of the coop into the nest boxes. I don't think sealant would work for that. The whole coop has gotten really "loose". This is why I have it inside the secure run because I don't think it would be much protection from the preditors. Time to start planning the "real" coop. Sounds like a good winter planning project and a good spring building project.

And so the chicken math starts!

MontanaChickenLady
Today 5:05 pmI have to say here.......since we are all talking chicken (there is a reason why they are called that I believe)..... I just can't even believe what sets them off. I put a nice piece of cedar split rail fencing in the compound thinking they would love perching on a little bit of something and maybe looking for bugs in it and it scared the liver out of each and everyone of them. They would not come out from under their coop (it's on stilt-like legs) and they kept trying to fly up while they were under the coop. I was so afraid one or more of them was going to get hurt. I finally had to remove the piece of wood because they would not come out into the compound. It's been raining here for a couple of days and the girls have been getting wet and my little Silkie roo is really getting wet as his feathers do not shed water as well as the hens' feathers do. I bought a tarp to put over the top of part of their coop and all of their compound hoping it wouldn't freak them out. My husband and I tied it down well with those zip ties. They all seem to be OK with it and not at all bothered by it. I'm shocked because I really thought they'd go nuts.

gryeyes
Today 4:29 pmTarps are pretty scary things.

To chickens, especially when first introduced.

Chickens are leery of just about ANYthing new. Mine were terrified of the galvanized garbage can in which I keep their feed. After a few days, a chicken pecking at it did not explode or get zapped by lightning or eaten by the lid snapping open on its own, so they are much more accepting of it, now. Some even jump/fly to perch on the handle of the lid.

When they were chicks in the brooder, I apparently did not know the peas I put in their treat dish were Mutant Killer Peas. They were afraid of that whole end of the brooder for a whole day.

Glad to hear mine aren't the only scaredy cats (oops, I mean chickens) around!

 

[KarenP]

I also purchased a coop off line only to find out we should have also just built the 2nd one. We put caulking like you would put around the edges of the bath tub on all cracks and creveses. We found that painting the coop with exterior paint also helps the wood shrinking situation. We had a big problem with leaks in the nesting boxes also. I'm just wondering, did you order this coop from Ebay??

Karen

 

[binders]

Quote:
I got mine from CCONLY. Don't remember if it was ebay or direct. Where is yours from?

 

[KarenP]

PAWHUT NEW DELUXE WOOD CHICKEN COOP HEN HOUSE FARM (140597565028) from Ebay. I only paid 100 for it, but the quality is poor!!

This is the one we made, and it also cost 100 to build. It's not as good looking as the small one, but the quality is so much better!!

Karen