TominWa
Songster
I've read all the posts and horror stories. I built the fortress that no beast could enter nor chicken escape. A great place with a good 20 sq ft per bird. Not a prison of horror, like those torture chamber pre fab feed store units....but that is another story.
The coup has worked well this first six months and I have been an excellent jailer.
Until today. I let them out.
My girls are six months old and have never set foot into the world. I didn't know what would happen.
It was about 10 this morning when I tentatively opened the gate and stood back. It took less than a minute and they were at my feet and doing their chicken thing. Like it was nothing and more importantly...no big deal. Frankly I was expecting more of an exaggerated chicken dance or something. Maybe to some cartoon classical music or something. Well, that was the picture in my mind anyway.
Nothing, just regular old chicken behavior.
They foraged here....and foraged there. Several went into the coup to lay their eggs. A couple to just sit up on the run perch as they are wont to do in the afternoon. They took naps with the cat on the back porch......and climbed all over the dog. A big lab BTW who almost took a couple of their heads off as three day old chicks. Now....eh....no big deal. Just something else to have to watch and protect.
Now I have a pretty big back yard, maybe 200x80 feet. Nothing huge....but adequate for 7 hens to strut around in. The walls consist of hedges and some fencing, nothing over 4 feet tall. Easily jumped over.
Nothing. They didn't even try. They were more interested in the wife's garden and held a digging and dust bath party. Even the cat joined in. Although, she likes to dig in the garden for an entirely different reason. No matter, all were welcome.
Going forward I will probably restrict their yard time to afternoons into dusk and roosting time. Just to keep it safer. It seemed that all they wanted to do was hang around us, the cats, and the dog all day. Two almost made it into the kitchen on the other side of the house and I am sure one of the Buff Orpington hens was eying the activity of the doggie door.
Every situation is different, but it just wasn't that big a deal that I keep reading about. Inside or outside the coup and run proper....they feel home.
The coup has worked well this first six months and I have been an excellent jailer.
Until today. I let them out.
My girls are six months old and have never set foot into the world. I didn't know what would happen.
It was about 10 this morning when I tentatively opened the gate and stood back. It took less than a minute and they were at my feet and doing their chicken thing. Like it was nothing and more importantly...no big deal. Frankly I was expecting more of an exaggerated chicken dance or something. Maybe to some cartoon classical music or something. Well, that was the picture in my mind anyway.
Nothing, just regular old chicken behavior.
They foraged here....and foraged there. Several went into the coup to lay their eggs. A couple to just sit up on the run perch as they are wont to do in the afternoon. They took naps with the cat on the back porch......and climbed all over the dog. A big lab BTW who almost took a couple of their heads off as three day old chicks. Now....eh....no big deal. Just something else to have to watch and protect.
Now I have a pretty big back yard, maybe 200x80 feet. Nothing huge....but adequate for 7 hens to strut around in. The walls consist of hedges and some fencing, nothing over 4 feet tall. Easily jumped over.
Nothing. They didn't even try. They were more interested in the wife's garden and held a digging and dust bath party. Even the cat joined in. Although, she likes to dig in the garden for an entirely different reason. No matter, all were welcome.
Going forward I will probably restrict their yard time to afternoons into dusk and roosting time. Just to keep it safer. It seemed that all they wanted to do was hang around us, the cats, and the dog all day. Two almost made it into the kitchen on the other side of the house and I am sure one of the Buff Orpington hens was eying the activity of the doggie door.
Every situation is different, but it just wasn't that big a deal that I keep reading about. Inside or outside the coup and run proper....they feel home.
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Awesome photos. I have lost two in a year from letting them range. A hawk and a car. I still am doing it but learning new things to minimise risk all the time. But even with the occasional loss being likely i just can't bare to lock them up all the time when i see how in their element they are on my land.
Best of both worlds.
