Chicks In the Coop now, but question...

[Newtohens]

Ok, so I just moved my girls out to their coop yesterday and everything seems to be going well, but I have an oddball question that seems so obvious now, but I never thought of it. The grass is long and needs mowing in the back section of yard and around ther coop, so I need to mow. Is the sound of the mower and commotion enough to give the chicks a heart attack? How do you handle yard work around the coop?

 

[noodleroo]

My chicks are 3 wks old and have been outside since they were 9 days old. We mowed all around them yesterday and even though they didn't particularly like it (moving to the other side of the tractor) they didn't freak out or anything. I let them out soon after and they really enjoyed picking through the cut grass for little 'whatevers'.

 

[AndreaS]

When we mow, my girls run back and forth inside of their run watching us. They get used to the mower pretty quickly.

 

[gritsar]

When my chicks were still in the brooder, on our screened porch I ran the mower in the front yard. It scared them and caused a pile up. Almost lost the two chicks at the bottom of the pile. Quick thinking by my DH saved them. Just watch out for pile ups.
ETA: After that they were fine with the mower, but that first time really scared them.

 

[elmo]

I bought a reel mower for that very reason. It's a Fiskars, and I loooooove it. No nasty gas fumes, or awful noise, and it does the job beautifully.

 

[FiveHens]

Ours kind of freak out when I mow around their run, but all they do is hide under the coop. They don't have a big problem with it.

 

[gryeyes]

My wonderful neighbor behind me uses a gas mower every Saturday. Three weeks ago, I started letting my chickens free range in the back yard, and he, apologetically, said he had to mow his yard, but would make the passes by the fence between us with the exhaust only on the side away from my yard. In other words, he wouldn't do the turn-around to come back "the other way," but make the next passes there after doing other rounds. But he would still have to run the mower by the fence.

At the time he asked, all my chickens were happily scratching right along that fence. They scattered when he started the mower, but afterward just acted like nothing was going on. Their run is only a few feet away from that fence, and he's mowed his yard every Saturday. I guess they'd gotten used to it; that noisy thing never came into THEIR space to harm them....

Some of my girls were really interested when I was building the new coop, and the sound of a circular saw and/or jig saw never fazed them in the least. (To my surprise.) I even had to move my work area OUT of their run, because they'd hop up and want to look really closely at the spot where the sawdust was shooting out!!!! Idiot birds.

I think yours might be startled at first.... and if they're young, might panic some. But I don't think they'll have heart attacks... They WILL love the bits of grass left behind the mower!!!

 

[Mother of All]

My 5 week old chicks have been outside now for 2 weeks in their own little pen. We just had a rain storm come and go. They have a cover over part of this cage to keep their food and themselves out of the rain. The problem was after the rain stopped we went out to find that the water was standing in their pen and they were all piled up on top of each other. We started getting them out so we could move the pen inside the coop before the next storm came and found one on her side in the mud. my DH pulled her out and took her to the shed and put a heat lamp on her. The rest quit wet are now inside and drying off. I hope they all will be OK

 

[SarahIrl]

I have a two year old who has squealed at them since day one, regularly lets the shed door BANG shut whenever she comes in and is generally a noisy one. They don't freak out at noise, just new things. Took them all day to venture over to their new perch and still they freak out when I put my hand into the brooder, although they are getting better and like to peck at my wedding ring. Silly kinins!! (My daughter can't say chicken yet, it's kinin. And she's named one miu miu, why I don't even know) They also love a roam on the grass for an hour in the warm weather. Sadly, the warm weather has gone. Again.

 

[Newtohens]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I ran the mower today and initally they freaked out a bit and ran to the opposite of the run, but by the next two passes they were following me as I made passes by their run. They seemed very interesting in the clippings that were leaving the mower shoot, so after I mowed and raked a little I let them out of the run and made a run for the pile of grass clippings. They pecked and scratched for a good hour before becoming bored with it. So maybe they will see the mower as an treat giver because they got to peck through all of the clippings.