As our temperatures have dropped, I've been one of those nervous chicken moms - thinking it is way too cold for them and getting the urge to install electricity for heat in their coop. I read the threads and info about chickens surviving for centuries without indoor spaces - let alone indoor heat... but I still worried.
Not anymore...
2 Days ago, one crazy and curious chicken (Buttercup, a Buff Orp) jumped the gate. We were there, so we caught her and put her back in with the flock. We thought -- 'we'll keep an eye out and if she does it again we'll have to figure something out...'.
Last night, when going out to do the evening chicken count and lock up we were down 1 Buff Orp...
So for over an hour, in the FREEZING cold, my husband and I searched the property with flash lights including the wooded area next to their coop & free range area. When the kids finally noticed we were missing...they came out and joined the search too. Nothing. No sign of her. No sign of predator attack. Eventually we called it a night and thought either a hawk got her OR she was hiding. I was not optimistic.
This morning, my husband went to let the chickens out of the coop and low and behold... Buttercup comes running out of the woods!!
She made it, on her own, in the woods, in the coldest temperatures we have had yet this year (it was well below freezing and windy).
Lessons Learned:
My husband increased the height of the gate this morning...
Not anymore...
2 Days ago, one crazy and curious chicken (Buttercup, a Buff Orp) jumped the gate. We were there, so we caught her and put her back in with the flock. We thought -- 'we'll keep an eye out and if she does it again we'll have to figure something out...'.
Last night, when going out to do the evening chicken count and lock up we were down 1 Buff Orp...
So for over an hour, in the FREEZING cold, my husband and I searched the property with flash lights including the wooded area next to their coop & free range area. When the kids finally noticed we were missing...they came out and joined the search too. Nothing. No sign of her. No sign of predator attack. Eventually we called it a night and thought either a hawk got her OR she was hiding. I was not optimistic.
This morning, my husband went to let the chickens out of the coop and low and behold... Buttercup comes running out of the woods!!
She made it, on her own, in the woods, in the coldest temperatures we have had yet this year (it was well below freezing and windy).
Lessons Learned:
- if they do it once, they WILL do it again...
- chickens (at least Buff Orps) are way more cold hardy that I ever would have thought
My husband increased the height of the gate this morning...
and Welcome to BYC! Sounds like Buttercup has an adventurous spirit, think she would wait until spring to go camping in the woods though.
e
