This may be the worng place to post this or it may be the right place to post this because I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer.
I live in North Central Vermont. My coop is surrounded by snow, snow that is too deep to shovel out of the run so my 5 hens and one rooster spend a lot of time in the 8' X 8" coop lately. I can go visit them 4 times a day and I usually bring a snack or apple or sometihng to occupy their time when I do get to go see them. I should probably say that my chickens are pets but you all probably feel the same way about yours. Attached to the coop is an 8'X8" shed so I can let them into the shed for a change of scenery when it is too cold, wet, snowy, icy etc for them to go out. I do shovel the snow off a patch of grass so they can graze on it a little bit when the weather is good enough and I grow grass in a box in the house and clip it and feed it to them regularly. The coop has 3 windows that let in light but they are just a panel of glass that doesn't open at all. In the summer I remove one panel of glass and screen it for ventilation. I also have a baby monitor in the coop so I can listen to the goings on in there, it is entertaining. Today at lunch time my rooster BB, plymouth barred rock, and a prety big rooster decided he wanted to get into one of the nesting boxes, he is at least twice the size of the hens and he couldn't turn around to come out, he was stuck. The nesting boxes share the wall with the shed and I have a trap door there on the wall so I can reach in to grab the eggs without even going into the coop. I had to open it so my rooster could get out. Do you think he is bored or do you think they will try a silly stunt occasionally just for entertainment purposes. I sure laughed at him and I think he was ammused also. Rant over.
I live in North Central Vermont. My coop is surrounded by snow, snow that is too deep to shovel out of the run so my 5 hens and one rooster spend a lot of time in the 8' X 8" coop lately. I can go visit them 4 times a day and I usually bring a snack or apple or sometihng to occupy their time when I do get to go see them. I should probably say that my chickens are pets but you all probably feel the same way about yours. Attached to the coop is an 8'X8" shed so I can let them into the shed for a change of scenery when it is too cold, wet, snowy, icy etc for them to go out. I do shovel the snow off a patch of grass so they can graze on it a little bit when the weather is good enough and I grow grass in a box in the house and clip it and feed it to them regularly. The coop has 3 windows that let in light but they are just a panel of glass that doesn't open at all. In the summer I remove one panel of glass and screen it for ventilation. I also have a baby monitor in the coop so I can listen to the goings on in there, it is entertaining. Today at lunch time my rooster BB, plymouth barred rock, and a prety big rooster decided he wanted to get into one of the nesting boxes, he is at least twice the size of the hens and he couldn't turn around to come out, he was stuck. The nesting boxes share the wall with the shed and I have a trap door there on the wall so I can reach in to grab the eggs without even going into the coop. I had to open it so my rooster could get out. Do you think he is bored or do you think they will try a silly stunt occasionally just for entertainment purposes. I sure laughed at him and I think he was ammused also. Rant over.
