Help my chickens are stuck!!

[dbolman]

Okay I am new to this site..this should be fun!! I have 6 chickens: 2 bantams, a silkie, a barred rock, a buff O and a silver wyandotte rooster. Just for the record they were all suppose to be hens!! But over cereal one morning I heard the loudest "Cock-A-Doodle Doo" and realized just why my Silver wyandotte "hen" was so huge....thus a rooster. So I figured I can live with one rooster and he is very handsome and friendly but now it turns out my silkie is a rooster too..All that work this Spring and I am down to 4 hens. Anyway I turned my children's playhouse/treehouse into a fancy coop. It has a ramp that goes to the top where there are nesting boxes for them. Every night they head to the top no problem..but they won't come back down! I have a door at the top so I can clean and check their boxes (no eggs yet) Anyway I have to let them out of the top or they just stay up there. BUT I don't want them loose all the time so they need to go down the ramp to stay in their coop . What should I do?

Also I let them free range around our farm. But they have no limits ; they love to go out in the cornfields all day so if they were having eggs I would have my own personal easter egg hunt. Do I have to keep them locked in to get my eggs?

Question 3? Should I keep both roosters? Will roosters breed a different breed from their own so I will get mixed breed chicks in the spring...

 

[omelette'smom]

maybe when you lock them in at night you throw down some scratch so they'll come down. Some people leave their girls locked in till a certain time so they get eggs first. my free rangers prefer to come home and lay eggs then go play again. Security maybe? I haven't found any stray eggs anywhere. I let them out around 7am and they return when it's time. I've been told it should be roughly 1 roo per 8 hen ratio or something to prevent overmating. poor hens take a beating if there are more than that. And yes, roos mate any hen-even bantums! Good luck and have fun!

 

[Uppity Peon]

First,

!!!

How high is this treehouse/play house. The chickens should be able to fly down from quite a height. If they do this would they not be in their enclosure? I would love to see some pictures.

I have a couple of little nest boxes made of small pet crates in the coop, as well as an outdoor nestbox made out of a plastic dog house. They seem to like dark cave-like places to lay in.

 

[dbolman]

I will take a picture for you and try to attach it. I really like how it turned out (coop) Especially with all the flowers blooming around and up it. They can definately fly down but then they are not in the enclosure. I am going to have my hubbie cut the whole bigger. Which rooster should I keep. They are both friendly so far. The Silver Wyandotte Rooster is big and LOUD and the silkie (confetti) is very pretty and has a deranged cock a doodle do,it sounds like he has strep throat. He has occasionally gave the kids a pretty good warning but only when prevoked. He has never bothered me. The chicks would be pretty cute if I kept the silkie. I can't believe all the chicken enthusiasts out there; crazy..Do frizzle's lay eggs?

Hmmm