- Jun 24, 2013
- 1
- 0
- 65
I have had 3 hens & a rooster now for almost 3 years.They free range during the day & coop up at night & I lock the pen up, which is very secure with netting over the entire pen, wired at the bottom.Never had a problem, except with garter snakes eating the eggs.(I have dogs on the porch that bark at anything.) They now lay eggs on my workbench in a box.The snake did not seem to bother them, though.Tonight they would not coop up. the rooster did, but not the hens.I can't believe he left them. I found one in the box on the workbench( is she nesting?) & 2 in the flower bed.
To make matters worse, I have 4, 14wk old hens in an addition to the coop, wired to keep them separate, but close. They started making odd noises, climbing on top, trying to get out. I have searched both coops for a snake. The chicks were so freaked out, I put them in a very large dog kennel and brought it close to the house.They calmed down and are sleeping.This all happened around dusk and I am freaked out.Are the two things related? I only hope the chicks will be OK when I put them back in their pen in the morning. I hope my hens will go back to cooping up at night. My dogs will let me know, if anything strange happens, I hope.
Anyone had a similar problem? Sorry for such a long story.
To make matters worse, I have 4, 14wk old hens in an addition to the coop, wired to keep them separate, but close. They started making odd noises, climbing on top, trying to get out. I have searched both coops for a snake. The chicks were so freaked out, I put them in a very large dog kennel and brought it close to the house.They calmed down and are sleeping.This all happened around dusk and I am freaked out.Are the two things related? I only hope the chicks will be OK when I put them back in their pen in the morning. I hope my hens will go back to cooping up at night. My dogs will let me know, if anything strange happens, I hope.
Anyone had a similar problem? Sorry for such a long story.
