Don't Do This!

[olinr]

Hi All,

My chicks are now 5 weeks old.

I have been trying to stay ahead of their growth to finish my coop and run.
The run has eight foot fencing and I opened up the entrance using a dog door. Finally, I added the ramp.

It was a good day (no wind and clear sky), so I grabbed the camcorder, opened up the door and waited. The chicks are very inquisitive, but apprehensive. It took a while for one to venture out. Others followed.

Looking at the coop with the man door and chicken door. I have RIR and Buff Orphington chicks.
These are the first to try the run.

While taping, I followed the RIR chick as she was chirping. Panning across the ramp, I noticed something:

The chick went through the fence!

I had my dogs in the house (thank goodness). The coop and run are in our backyard courtyard. Needless to say, I rounded up the chicks that were outside and placed the cover back onto the dog door.

I will line the run with chicken wire, which I have.

Step back and proceed with caution! This is my warning to anyone who would try the same thing. I thought I had chickens, but they are still chicks.

(I captured the still images from my video.)

Dick.
Phelan, CA.

 

[freddy22]

lol good to know

 

[Cajunsamoan]

I used this wire too on my first coop. You'd be amazed at how big they can get and still fit through it. Glad you caught it before anything bad happened.

 

[HappyHatch'en]

Thanks for posting and the pictures. I bet you had a heart attack....
HappyHatch'en

 

[chickenannie]

I had banty chicks squeezing out through 1-inch chicken wire last year!! Then they would sit and cry because they couldn't figure out how to get back in to be with mama! Baby chicks do silly things.

 

[cmom]

Great pics!!!

 

[CityChook]

Those silly chookies - they're worse than toddlers sometimes.

Just as a side note for the newbies in the crowd... 2x4 wire like that will not only let your chickens out, but it will let rats in. And racoons can reach right in and grab your chickens with no problems. Just so you know.

Good luck and glad it turned out okay!

 

[cmom]

I use chicken wire for my fencing for predators. Out side of the fencing I have electric wire with 6000 volts. So far so good. Prior to the electric, a neighborhood dog dug under my fence and killed one of my hens. I move the fence once in awhile to give them new territory to graze. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[Chauntecleer's Keeper]

One of my hens went broody last year and hatched two chicks. The first time they came out of the coop I happened to be there. Something spooked them and out the wire they went. I had to work very hard to catch that little sucker. They both made it though. One is my rooster Chauntecleer and the other is ont of my hens.

 

[Beauregard]

A friend of mine had a similar problem, he used 2 inch chicken wire because the guy at the hardware store told him that's what he needed,so he puts some 5 week old pullets in his new run, and the next day they all left... one came back... I 'll bet its a rooster.