Hi all, I have Barred Rocks that free range our back yard. Their coop & pen (if we ever needed to lock them up) are located right under the outer edge of a big apple tree. When they were first outside, they roosted in the coop. Then one decided to roost in the tree one night & of course it's too high even if I had a ladder, to get it down. Well of course the next night they were all roosting in the tree. It was not a big deal to me because it was warm summer weather. Now we are heading into winter, last night was a low of 38, I am worried about them roosting outside. My question is, how can I keep them from roosting in the tree? Would they figure it out when it's colder & snowing or do I need to DO something? Thanks so much! We have an awesome group of 15 (11 BR & 4 assorted (the latter 4 roost in a coop :-D). It is a funny sight to see them all high up in the tree but I don't want them to freeze to death here in North Idaho.
