So I go out to the coop and find an 8-day-old showgirl chick wandering outside the enclosed run. Say huh? I start looking for a hole in the mesh when it FLIES to the top of the small-mesh netting and goes through the chain link, back into the run! I am almost beside myself. I enter the coop run to check on this feat of madness, and try to figure what I can do to keep this precocious little one inside and out of the teeth of the cats. And the next thing I know, there are all four of them outside, running around on the other side of the fence.
I run for the outside and scoop chicks into my skirt, cursing this amazing flying behavior (they have only just gotten pinion feathers on their wings!), and put them in a transport cage. They then try to squish out through the mesh, but get their butts stuck inside, with heads and some wings poked through. I end up scooping up the showgirls plus the silkies and locking them inside the coop. I then enlist my fiance to get the hens and put them in with the chicks. I was planning to put them inside anyway, because a big storm is expected, but yow! It's going to be interesting if they can fly already! It will be a couple weeks before they are big enough not to be able to get through the chain link.
Will they put on enough weight not to be able to levitate with vestigal wings? I didn't have this problem with the previous chicks! These guys are topping out the 24" poultry netting and making it look easy! Anyone had precocious flying chicks? I thought my heart was going to stop when I found four of them flying the coop, literally!
I run for the outside and scoop chicks into my skirt, cursing this amazing flying behavior (they have only just gotten pinion feathers on their wings!), and put them in a transport cage. They then try to squish out through the mesh, but get their butts stuck inside, with heads and some wings poked through. I end up scooping up the showgirls plus the silkies and locking them inside the coop. I then enlist my fiance to get the hens and put them in with the chicks. I was planning to put them inside anyway, because a big storm is expected, but yow! It's going to be interesting if they can fly already! It will be a couple weeks before they are big enough not to be able to get through the chain link.
Will they put on enough weight not to be able to levitate with vestigal wings? I didn't have this problem with the previous chicks! These guys are topping out the 24" poultry netting and making it look easy! Anyone had precocious flying chicks? I thought my heart was going to stop when I found four of them flying the coop, literally!
