escaped chicken

[pbnjellyfish]

Please don't think I am dumb...just a first time chicken owner. We have 3 sweet little chickens that we love very much. One of them is being very naughty and escaping from the back yard. She doesn't do it every night but when she does it is usually in the evenings around 7:00 or so, about the time they should be putting themselves to bed. Because we know her behavior we set an alarm to go out and check on them and up until last night on those evenings when she has jumped the fence we have been able to find her before she wanders too far. But last night we were in a situation where we were unable to get home in time to check on them until it was dark. She was gone, my son was upset and crying, we wandered the neighborhood until 11:00 p.m. with flashlights and couldn't find her. I got up this morning at 6:00 and went wandering again and finally found her. The little beast.

What do we do? How do we break her of this habit? How can we keep her in the back yard? I don't want to lock her in a pen, I think it is mean, but I don't want her getting lost or killed either.

 

[DTchickens]

put netting over the backyard or something so she cant fly out

 

[AngieChick]

The only way to keep them totally safe while you are out is to build a secure run. Mine are "penned" in a generous run and I can assure you they are perfectly happy. Put some sand on the bottom to let them dirt bathe, maybe get fancy and build some little roosts in there. They will love it. The other benefit of an attached run is that you can cover it during rainy times and they still have access to the outdoors while staying dry. When I can be out with them they do get the run of the yard, but that is only for an hour a day or so. I know they would prefer to be out in the yard all day every day, but they are in no way suffering with their current set up. I think they might even be a bit spoiled

Here is a link with my set-up

 

[JennsPeeps]

You can alss lock her in the coop for a few days to teach her that *this* is home.

I'd buld a run so that your girls can only FR when you're at home, but are rescure in a run while you're away. That's what we do... and even that makes me nervous! We've left parties early before so that we can get home and lock up the coop for the night.