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TexasWineGuy said:
Celtic,
Thanks for the reply. What about training them to get back into the coop/run during the daytime? I need to be able to let them out during the day, but also get them in when we can't be out there with them.
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Okay, two things on that from my admittedly limited experience.

One is that "chicken" isn't a term for coward for no reason. They are prey and everything likes to eat chicken - so they are easily spooked. If anything spooks mine, they run back into their coop.

Sometimes it's absolutely silly - one starts moving ahead of the others, another breaks into a run to catch up, and as best as I can tell the first one assumes the other must be running FROM something, and OMG they're all back in the coop.

The other method is the yummy treats. Freeze dried mealworms are chicken CRACK. At this point, my daughter @Purple Rose swears they recognize the bag when she comes outside with it, and I think she's right. But if they aren't happening to look at her, just her standing at the coop door, shaking the bag and calling TREATY-TREAT in that high pitched voice that she's always used for it, and they are all HELLO WHY YES I WANT MEALWORMS!!
 
TexasWineGuy said:
Help me understand the conundrum of needing ventilation, but also needing to keep them warm. How do I do both?
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This is the thread that @aart links to in the signature

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts.1048597/

My essential takeaways from this are that chicken are better at dealing with cold than you'd think, and that it's more important to keep your coop dry, especially in the winter to avoid frostbite, than it is warm. And that you want your ventilation higher than the roosts, so that a) you don't have breezes blowing across the chickens, and b) poop decomposes to ammonia, which is hard on their lungs and lighter than air so rises.

My coop has the top triangle in both the north and south side as an opening covered with hardware cloth, and has two lower rectangular hardware cloth windows with shutters on the east and west - lower, but still higher than the roost.
 
fldiver97 said:
@TexasWineGuy

I started using a mason jar with BOSS, a favorite treat for my chickens. I’d shake the jar and call them, gave them some treats. They quickly learned what the shaking of the jar means and they will come running and follow me to the coop/run anytime. Been doing it for almost 10 years
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Perfect.


TWG
 
TexasWineGuy said:
Help me understand the conundrum of needing ventilation, but also needing to keep them warm. How do I do both?

Thanks,
TWG
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I have an open air coop.
I worried the first winter but laugh at myself now for that worrying. It does not get cold enough down here for us to have to worry about our birds being cold...ever.
 
Update: The hens are in the Haus. My daughter is so excited.

Right now they are exploring their new pad. None of them as of yet have ventured up INTO the coop itself, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

TWG
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