I made the same mistake about thinking they wouldn't be able to fly. I've clipped domestic caged birds wings, so clipping wasn't an issue. My run was 4½' high and they still were able to effortlessly fly up and over with clipped wings.
I live in Minnesota, so the Winter temps are cold enough to freeze the eggs. When the eggs freeze they crack open and the cellular structure of the inside of the eggs is wrecked so the yolk isn't able to hold together.
I've been having to go out every couple hours to look for eggs and hopefully get them before they freeze so I don't have to store the frozen ones separate from the unfrozen ones. If I want to make non-scrambled eggs for breakfast I'd like to know what's inside. Keeping them in the run and coop narrows down how much hunting I have to do for the eggs. Sometimes they are still laying out in the run. They all just recently started laying and I can hardly wait until they figure out to lay in the coop.
We've covered their run to keep them in. They don't like it, but they are getting used to it. There aren't any bugs or plants for them to graze on in the yard right now anyway. It also gives me the peace of mind knowing where they are now that the weather has turned cold. I sure would hate having to go searching for chickens now that its Winter. Come Spring we intend to totally enclose the run. We'll likely give them time out of the run, but for now it seems to make sense to us, in our situation, to keep them enclosed.
We decided to not reclip their wings after this last Fall molt simply because the extra feathers would be just that more insulation. Besides, it wasn't doing any good anyway.
I live in Minnesota, so the Winter temps are cold enough to freeze the eggs. When the eggs freeze they crack open and the cellular structure of the inside of the eggs is wrecked so the yolk isn't able to hold together.
I've been having to go out every couple hours to look for eggs and hopefully get them before they freeze so I don't have to store the frozen ones separate from the unfrozen ones. If I want to make non-scrambled eggs for breakfast I'd like to know what's inside. Keeping them in the run and coop narrows down how much hunting I have to do for the eggs. Sometimes they are still laying out in the run. They all just recently started laying and I can hardly wait until they figure out to lay in the coop.
We've covered their run to keep them in. They don't like it, but they are getting used to it. There aren't any bugs or plants for them to graze on in the yard right now anyway. It also gives me the peace of mind knowing where they are now that the weather has turned cold. I sure would hate having to go searching for chickens now that its Winter. Come Spring we intend to totally enclose the run. We'll likely give them time out of the run, but for now it seems to make sense to us, in our situation, to keep them enclosed.
We decided to not reclip their wings after this last Fall molt simply because the extra feathers would be just that more insulation. Besides, it wasn't doing any good anyway.
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