Free-ranging on a college campus?

[CovenantCreek]

When all I had was 4-6 girls, they stayed close to the house, coop, and horse paddocks. Now, with 12 girls and a roo in charge, they're all over the property -- all 5 acres. I now have to close my front gate to keep them in as well as the dogs.

 

[Chicken Boo]

I would worry about them in the road, especially around college kids who think they know how to drive and the speed limit is for chumps. And drunk college students do really stupid things.

You also do not know what pesticides and herbicides your neighbors and the campus are using. Most campuses are forgoing the most poisonous types, but they are still poison.

Bigger coop/run area or fence the yard is my suggestion. Sorry.

 

[OrpingtonManor]

I have only 4 girls and they do stay together, mostly. Sometimes 3 of them will hop the fence and leave behind the same bird. (She injured her leg last summer and has never left the yard since, or else she would be right there with them.) They don't seem to care if they can see the coop as long as they are together. They just want to find more good bugs and good greenie things, and go wherever that leads them.

I am still working on an enclosure for them because there are always predators. Your predators happen to include college students.

I'd enlarge the run. Help your dad with it, and he won't mind at all. If my sons and I can work on something together, I put it in the category of a darn good day!

 

[leasmom]

Enclose them because drunken teens might decide to play a game of chase the chicken and lord knows what they'll leave behind for them to eat i.e. contraceptives. I would keep mine enclosed in a larger run. I know a lady that buys grass for her chickens so they can have the same advantages as free range but are enclosed. You don't want to sacrifice your chickens to the strange things kids try while in college...and you don't want to be eating the eggs of anything they might be exposed too.

 

[patandchickens]

Have you considered making a 'day tractor' for them, so you could let them hang out on virgin lawn each day without them hopping the fence? Then return them to the coop and run at night.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[wingnut1]

*secretly worried about the faculty - how they will be able to differentiate between free range chickens and college administrators -

*
*cough* seriously...

Congrats on your chickens - it is so great to hear from folks that want to ensure they have a good living environment!

Ditto on the day tractor idea! Sounds perfect for your situation!!! I'll bet there is good info on the coop design forum!

I have 8 hens and they stay together - well, except for Cloudy, my standard cochin. Let's just say she marches to the beat of a different drummer (at least I think she is hearing drums.. not clear if she is hearing echoes....love her - sweet, beautiful, but not the brightest bulb in the pack, iffun ya get my drift)

Does your school have an agriculture college? If so, they might be able to provide you with assistance on designing the living space for the chickens. Just a thought!

 

[wings]

Quote:
Well my mom's a college administrator, so watch it!!!

It's just a state school, so it probably doesn't have anything that I could use. I'll check it out, though...

 

[wingnut1]

Ah, but I am sure that she is one of the BRAVE ones!!!

*so wishing I had brought a large enough shovel... just could NOT resist the joke!*

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yeah. SERIOUSLY, of course, it's not so much the chickens themselves that'd be confusing; more the um fertilizer they produce...

Pat, formerly on the faculty of a REALLY butthead department, and glad to be shovelling ACTUAL manure these days instead of its academic equivelents

 

[wingnut1]

wings - thanks for allowing us to kid.....