Oh, chickens will never be happy with the space you give them - at least not once they know there is an 'out there, there."Yeah. I went a bit nuts building the Chicken Palace, They certainly have enough room even when confined and don't let Bernadette tell you otherwise!
I don't know if you remember that 2 falls ago I brooded 15 chicks for a colleague of my husbands (her family owns a farm and has chickens, they were getting on in years, and they needed some new chicks to supplement the laying, and since her mom & dad both passed, they really weren't set up to incubate chicks there themselves.)
Well, as per my usual, I started giving them some 'outside time' when I was home once they were a couple of weeks old - as long as the temps were cooperating...
The following spring I was at the school for something, and she came up to me and said 'you sold me criminal chickens!" Me: ?????
Well, they were aware of 'out there', and every time she went to go in their coop/run, they tried to make a dash for it and 'jail break'. The other coop/run, with the older girls? Nope, not once have they tried to escape on her!
I told her they were very trainable, all she needed was a small sealed bucket of scratch just outside the door. If they escaped, put a little scratch in a tin can and shake, calling 'here chickie, chickie" They will come running and follow you back in!
(p.s. I just told her my chickens were smarter and wanted the chance to 'rustle up' some of their own food!
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