Considering doing this, but really scared!

[gritsar]

My coop is adequate for 14 chickens, 8X10.
For awhile now I've been considering keeping them locked in the coop for a day, for various reasons. I was just waiting for cooler weather to do it.
They have never spent an entire day in the coop.
Now the cooler weather has arrived and I have the perfect opportunity to lock them in since we are going to be out of town for the day, on Friday.
However, I just read a post about chickens cooped up pecking another one blind. I am also concerned about Lilith and Lil' Bit, my two lowest ranking hens, getting picked on excessively while we are gone. They usually hang out together when free ranging so they stay out of the bossier hens way.
I've considered keeping everybody locked up except Lilith and Lil'Bit and leaving them inside the fenced yard.
What to do???

 

[ChickBond 007]

Do you have a big dog cage for Lilith and Lil Bit for that one day?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yeah we have a dog crate, several actually. Or my DH wouldn't object to the two of them staying on the screened porch for the day. Worst they could do is poop on it and it's not like they haven't done that before.

 

[ChickBond 007]

We don't call that poop at my house. We call it highly nitrogenized expenditure-free fertilizer.

 

[juliawitt]

Inside my coop, we built a segregation area. We use it as a brooder and or a sick area. It is basically a caged partioned area that has chicken wire and a caged door were we can close off chickens. My little 7 week olds hang out all day with the big gals in the yard, but I'm still leary of letting them free in the house at night (locked in) with the big girls. My dominant hen pecks if she is grumpy. We went on an overnighter, and kept all 16 little girls in the segregated area and they were just fine. (I worried) We do have a 2X4 roost that runs diagonally in the "caged" are which extends the square footage. Yes, they are a little cramped for the night, but they are safe and that means I can sleep with out worring that bullying and picking isn't going on.