Flying problem

[feather13]

More reasons to.....
....keep the in there full time.

Thanks for your reply! I think they're going to go bonkers cooped up, but I'm going to give it a try and keep an eye on any bullies. The EFs are aggressive with other birds and completely averse to humans I think they're going to be really unhappy cooped up. I'd rehome them, but we have Mareks in our flock. We'll see how they are as layers before we make any decisions about whether they'll be processed or stay with us.

 

[feather13]

Any time, friend! I

Ah, OEGBs. Pure trouble! Though now my hen goes under the fence instead of over. She can for through anything! She is sweet though, and doesn't eat much, and every once in a while she lays me a tiny egg. That's why I keep her.

Thanks! Your OEGB sounds funny and cute. OEGBs are possibly my favorite breed... inquisitive, sweet, independent, microegg layers. Ours loved to roam around the neighborhood and laid a huge clutch of eggs in our backyard. Every time we thought she had permanently disappeared, she'd appear outside our bedroom window.

 

[aart]

Thanks for your reply! I think they're going to go bonkers cooped up, but I'm going to give it a try and keep an eye on any bullies. The EFs are aggressive with other birds and completely averse to humans I think they're going to be really unhappy cooped up. I'd rehome them, but we have Mareks in our flock. We'll see how they are as layers before we make any decisions about whether they'll be processed or stay with us.

Make a bigger run?
How big is it, dimensions and pics.
How many birds total?

 

[feather13]

@aart

We have two connected runs:

1) one is a dog run covered in hardware cloth 24 ft x 7ft with a 7ft roof (corrugated metal) (third photo--you can see the EFs screaming to get out LOL)

2) one is 8 ft x 12 ft with a 7ft roof (hardware cloth)--(second photo--attached to the other run to the right with a dog run door)

3) And our coop is 5 ft x 7ft and 3ft tall (with run area underneath) (first photo--you can see the coop at the end. Our unattached beehive is in the foreground)

We have a pallet up on a stump for extra room and roosting poles everywhere

We ordered the minimum number of day-old chicks from McMurrays with the assumption that some would die and a friend promised to take four (she later backed out). So we have 2 post-laying hens, 11 pullets, and 1 rooster. Now that we've integrated the chicks with the elderly hens, we can't rehome any of them because we have Mareks in the flock.

Do you think this is enough roof for all of them for a while? Pre-pandemic I traveled a lot and they were cooped up, sometimes for a month, so I want to make sure they have enough space (the coop/run wasn't initially built with so many chickens in mind...)

Thanks so much for any help you can give!

 

[aart]

Run space sound fine, if they all have access to both runs all the time.
Coop is tiiiiiight for 14 birds!

 

[feather13]

Run space sound fine, if they all have access to both runs all the time.
Coop is tiiiiiight for 14 birds!

Thank you! They all do have access to both of the runs all the time.

In nearly ten years of keeping chickens in southern California, I've found ours rarely ever use the coop for anything other than laying eggs. Even when we've only had 3 or 4 they've always roosted outside (in bad weather they roost under the covered run). When they're chicks, we always lock them up in the coop at night, but somehow they never want to go in there when they're older (even though it's well-ventilated, warmer than outside, and dry).