Quote: Mine have gotten VERY good at taking shelter from hawks - they like to park themselves on a high branch and just STARE at the chickens that they can't quite get at... It's neat - although there are 5 separate coops/families, they work together when it comes to predator awareness and warnings. (Though Dumbledore is a nervous nellie and sometimes thinks someone's egg song means she's under attack.
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And yeah; locking up early (especially when they're free range) includes a lot of scrambling thru brush trying to avoid stepping on poky stuff, waving arms around, and food.... Lots of it. And even that doesn't always work.
Oooooh, yeah, VERY familiar with that, have the scars on my legs to prove it. I basically got to the point that if someone wasn't going to go to bed, I would wait her out (it was always a crazy pullet), and when it got dark enough, it would be easier to grab her (occasionally out of a tree). One Speckled Sussex refused, and tried to sleep in the bushes one night (and I couldn't find her). She got a Darwin Award - fox got her 3am that night (I heard the ruckus). Only chicken I've lost.
The GNH girls didn't want to go to bed on time at first because they weren't used to their new coop with Tank. So I locked them all in together for 2 weeks, no ranging. Problem solved - they all march their little fluffy butts up to the roost at bedtime every night now.
I discovered last night around 9:30pm that the light sensor for the automatic door for the Frat House was broken and the door had not shut. Rainy night and not too late, so no predator attack fortunately, and I got the door closed manually. I'll need to close it manually every night until the new photo sensor comes (it was chewed on, looks like by a hawk perching on top their coop). Those boys always put themselves to bed early, though...
- Ant Farm
