i somehow acquired 2 runaways and i have questions. please help

[BDutch]

believe today, when louise was done complaining so much, she went right back in and they did not go in the run the whole time i was gone.

Sounds like double broody behaviour.
If you don’t want chicks , dont let them sit on their favourite nest box. If they choose another place to sit. Block that too.

 

[pollipazzi]

Sounds like double broody behaviour.
If you don’t want chicks , dont let them sit on their favourite nest box. If they choose another place to sit. Block that too.

there’s no rooster. i do not want chicks.

i don’t think they are broody (well, thelma might be thinking about it?) because as soon as i open the run door, they come running out. it’s more like they associate getting put in the run as time for bed.

they never use the roost. they sleep in the nestboxes.
they don’t poop in the coop.

everybody else’s chickens don’t seem to do any of these things. do i just have malfunctioning ones?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Just read this entire thread. It took me nearly an hour. Worth it.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I have some comments:
Those are some of the healthiest, glossiest, neatest little hens I've ever seen. They are certainly spoiled. They deserve to be!
Also, you obviously care for these birds as feathered family at this point. Very admirable. A chicken is just a chicken, sure, but it's so much different when it's YOUR chicken! Though, of course, these ladies will always be free spirits.
Coming back to how adorable they are: I let out an audible gasp and ensuing "awwww" upon seeing the first photo. How lucky you are to have been chosen by them.

 

[pollipazzi]

Just read this entire thread. It took me nearly an hour. Worth it.

eep! thank you!

 

[pollipazzi]

I have some comments:
Those are some of the healthiest, glossiest, neatest little hens I've ever seen. They are certainly spoiled. They deserve to be!
Also, you obviously care for these birds as feathered family at this point. Very admirable. A chicken is just a chicken, sure, but it's so much different when it's YOUR chicken! Though, of course, these ladies will always be free spirits.
Coming back to how adorable they are: I let out an audible gasp and ensuing "awwww" upon seeing the first photo. How lucky you are to have been chosen by them.

thank you so much! i'm going to print this out and tape it to my husband's forehead

 

[BDutch]

View attachment 4106944there’s no rooster. i do not want chicks.

i don’t think they are broody (well, thelma might be thinking about it?) because as soon as i open the run door, they come running out. it’s more like they associate getting put in the run as time for bed.

they never use the roost. they sleep in the nestboxes.
they don’t poop in the coop.

everybody else’s chickens don’t seem to do any of these things. do i just have malfunctioning ones?

Mine do poop when they sit on a roost , otherwise they don't poop in coop either. If my chickens ( the young ) sleep in a nestbox without being broody, they poop in it too. I don’t like that bc eggs get smeared and it’s more work to clean.

I always trained chickens who wouldn’t roost by themself. Putting them on the roost or blocking the nest in the evening.

Your chickens have roosted in trees before. So the sure know the concept. If they don’t use the roost now, there is probably something wrong with it. The roost must be higher than the nestbox to start with. Many prefab coops come with roosts/nestboxes in a wrong spot. Often too many nestboxes , not enough height and a poor layout out with lousy ventilation. Maybe it helps if you make the roost bar as heigh as possible. Or make a nestbox (fake egg in a pot) on the floor to lay their eggs. Close the two nestboxes in the coop. Try for a week if it doesn’t work try something else.

I know people who took out the bottom of the coop to gain roost hight inside the coop, and somehow lowered the nest-boxes.
I extended my coop/run with a roost area. My chickens kept using the 2 nestboxes in the tiny coop and preferred to sleep in the new extension which I originally made as a shelter to use during the day. I added photos to get a better idea.

Higher roost:

Original coop with small run:

And later with the extension built on the right (in front) .

 

[pollipazzi]

Mine do poop when they sit on a roost , otherwise they don't poop in coop either. If my chickens ( the young ) sleep in a nestbox without being broody, they poop in it too. I don’t like that bc eggs get smeared and it’s more work to clean.

I always trained chickens who wouldn’t roost by themself. Putting them on the roost or blocking the nest in the evening.

Your chickens have roosted in trees before. So the sure know the concept. If they don’t use the roost now, there is probably something wrong with it. The roost must be higher than the nestbox to start with. Many prefab coops come with roosts/nestboxes in a wrong spot. Often too many nestboxes , not enough height and a poor layout out with lousy ventilation. Maybe it helps if you make the roost bar as heigh as possible. Or make a nestbox (fake egg in a pot) on the floor to lay their eggs. Close the two nestboxes in the coop. Try for a week if it doesn’t work try something else.

I know people who took out the bottom of the coop to gain roost hight inside the coop, and somehow lowered the nest-boxes.
I extended my coop/run with a roost area. My chickens kept using the 2 nestboxes in the tiny coop and preferred to sleep in the new extension which I originally made as a shelter to use during the day. I added photos to get a better idea.

Higher roost:
View attachment 4106940

Original coop with small run: View attachment 4106939

And later with the extension built on the right (in front) .
View attachment 4106942

thank you! wow! you have a lot of room for them with that big run attached! you’re chickens are beautiful!

the first roost i built was higher than the nesting boxes. they did not use it. i thought maybe it was too high and they didn’t have room to jump up on it. but they ate the mealworms off it, so i think they could.
the one that’s in there now is about halfway up the nesting box. it’s shorter and wider though. like ssort of a step stool but not that wide.

i know this coop is not good. i learned that probably the first day i got it

i would modify it to make it taller, but i do need to put the feed under it. its been raining for over a week with no break. the feed would be soup.
(speaking of the feed, the starlings found it. i’m doomed.)

we are supposed to finish building the greenhouse tomorrow. if it ever stops raining.
then i can concentrate on harassing my husband for a more secure run. i am thinking about building a different coop and selling this one. now that i know more things, i have a better idea than just panicking and buying a prefab coop. i absolutely cannot get in there if i had to move them to a roost or do anything like that, really. i think they built these coops for tiny little gnome chicken owners. and i am pretty small myself!

 

[pollipazzi]

also!
they DO seem to use the little greenhouse like a run. they are always in there to get out of the rain and be in a DRY pot. and i can sit in there with them in a chair (and not on a roost. lol!)
but there is nothing else in there that would be interesting for chickens. just tools and empty pots and stuff.

 

[pollipazzi]

also also!
this morning, a little sparrow landed by the little greenhouse door with a crust of bread (too big for sparrows) that he must have robbed from the crows, because the crows came too!
but of course, thelma and louise ran out of the greenhouse and stole it from all of them.
then louise stole it from thelma.
thelma put her face on her face like she does when she comes out from laying an egg and GROWLED at louise and then pecked her face with one quick peck.
that’s new!
lol!
go, little thelma!
AND she got the bread! lol!