Help I have Chickens in my Trees!!!

[Chicky Joy]

Our girls will do anything for food/treats. Ours aren't allowed to free range but we had 3 escape a few days ago. We're waiting on the material to finish the top of our run (our fence is 9 feet or so). Found out they'd follow us anywhere for a little snack. Only took 2 minutes to round them up again. They do go into their coop automatically just before dark. Otherwise they stay outside in the run most of the day.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Mine like to roost on the top of my pen or inside the pen, I would have no problem with them roosting in the trees, I would like that just fine since my chickens free-range 24/7.

 

[jessupfamily]

Roosting high and covered is their nature. Maybe they know where it is safe?

We had tree chickens once and they survived the longest, the ones in the coop were massacred by a weasel and didn't have a chance to get away. At least they would have the chance to fly away to another tree. If they must be cooped, treat training is the way to go! They do think about food at least 99.9% of the time!

Blessings,
Amy J.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I've found that some birds are easier than others to convince to sleep where I want them. It's best if you can shift them right away, so they don't get the habit ingrained into their bitty birdy minds.

You have to decide if it's better for your flock to have clipped wings so they cannot roost in trees or stay unclipped to flap away from predators. I don't like my birds to roost in trees because I think they're easier pickings for raccoons & possums. However, I have one roo named Kramer who is determined to roost high in a certain tree, and hasn't been harmed yet. I even saw 2 possums up in that tree one night, and couldn't see Kramer, and feared he was someone's midnight snack. Yet the next day Kramer was back in the yard, seemingly none the worse for wear.

What have you others experienced? Are chickens more vulnerable roosting in trees? Or do they stay on branches thinner than their predators can stand on? Does the swaying of the branches when the varmits climb on them give the chickens helpful advanced warning?

Chicknlady, I wish you success in reprogramming your tree-roosting birds. Keep on offering tasty treats for the ones who cooperate, and wait until full dark to grab the rest. Like their predators, I find chickens much easier to catch after dark.

 

[chiknlady]

Thank you--I know it is natural behavior, I am just thinking it is going to start getting cold up here soon and I don't want them to be in the habit of staying outside when it starts to snow or rain...I am in Hardiness Zone 6 which can get as low as 0 or below in the full brunt of winter. I don't want to clip their wings, and in another month or so--they will hopefully be too heavy to fly...

 

[scooter147]

To the question of chickens roosting in trees and their safety.

When we were growing up we had chickens and plenty of them. My dad loved the old fashioned mixed breed barnyard banty. We had probably had 40-50 on the place at any one time.
They would roost in the trees spring, summer, fall and winter. They seemed to prefer the ash and wild cherry trees.
Anyway, they survived just fine. Occasionally you would here a comotion at night but not very often.

These chickens were the closest thing I think to "wild" chicken as you could get. They were extremely fast and excellant flyers. They could go to a branch 30 feet high in a blink and take off and fly, soar, fly, soar. When I saw them fly across the yard or across the cow pasture they always reminded me of a ringneck pheasant when they flew.

The hens would hide their nests and bring back a dozen or so chicks. The chicks seemed to be the ones who suffered from predation the most, generally a hen would only raise 2 or 3 to the time they could start roosting in the cedar trees.

When we became "overran" with banties dad would simply get out his 22 and we had chicken soup.

I do remember one time as well dad bought some white leghorn battery hens from some place and within 6 months those things started roosting in the trees, however, they didn't last long, it may have been the white color that attracted predators.

Anyway, I don't recommend letting the chickens roost in trees too many things can go wrong with this arrangements.

 

[ozark hen]

As someone else suggested:
once you get them back into the coop please leave them in there for a few days, at least. They need to be "rehomed" and not a good idea to clip their wings, IMO.

 

[scooter147]

One other thing with the wing clipping. If you have evergreens that have low branches the roosting in trees will not stop, they will simply hop up the branches.
Like you said earlier, they are heavy breeds and their ability to fly high is a short time frame.

 

[goldensunriseranch]

I think it depends on the type of tree as to how safe it is. If they roost in a tree that all the leaves fall off of in winter then they will be exposed and probably not smart enough to know to switch to the coop or another tree like an evergreen. I had a group of banties that insisted sleeping in a holly tree and they lived for years. After that bunch was done, several were moved along as I got interested in other breeds, I've made sure to teach newbies to go back to their coops. It was frustrating having them all crowing in the trees every time a car drove by in the middle of the night.