Knock, Knock, Knock!

[Mr Grandcanyon]

Not sure which is doing it.... but I strongly suspect Samson, so each morning I hear this incessant knocking on the door to the pen. They want OUT and they want out NOW! Samson only crows about every 3rd morning... but somebody is pecking away at the door EVERY morning. Since they are right outside my bedroom wall I hear it clearly. They do it really loudly and won't stop!

Is this normal or should I put some Prozac in the water?

 

[easttxchick]

My rooster pecks on the walls every evening at roosting time-LOUDLY. Sounds like a woodpecker. He doesn't knock in the morning-when I open the door, I better be clear of the stampede, though!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

You just have to bite the bullet & let them out. You know the rules:
Rule #1 The Chickens Make The Rules
Rule #2 If There Are No Rules.......See The Chickens.

 

[Mr Grandcanyon]

I get the stampede too. Samson, gentleman that he is, usually lets the 4 hens out first. Never have heard the knocking in the evening. They put themselves in at night... I wait until the sun has set and just go out, say "Goodnight" and lock the pen. They are already in the coop. They will softly cluck "goodnight" back to me.....

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

We don't let our chickens free range in the yard due to WAY too many predators. WAY too many. But they have the freedom to go in and out of the coop into the run as they please. But every so often I see our roo jump at the door. He didn't start doing it until we put plastic up for the winter. They can't really see out of it, so I guess he's not too happy with it. But it's protecting them from the weather. There is ventilation in the coop and through the plastic to let moisture escape. In the spring we will be constructing a new run onto a shed we will be buying to use as a coop. I plan to make the run bigger than this one. It is 16 ft x 9 ft... the coop takes up some of that space. It is 8 ft wide by 4 ft tall and 4 ft ... deep, I guess. lol Leaving them a 9 ft by 8 ft area. Since it's only temporary, I'm not too worried about it. They seem happy. Especially the girls. I can't wait to see what they'll think of their new set up in the spring. I'm excited about it myself.

 

[Mr Grandcanyon]

When I let my FLOCK! out they have 39 acres to explore. Very few predators and I'm around somewhere. At first, they stayed close to the house... mostly under the front porch. Now they can get 100-150 feet away from the house. All I have to do is show my face and they come running looking for a FREE LUNCH! I many times spoil them with a handfull of scratch. It is winter and slim pickin's for bugs...

 

[gryeyes]

I have an auto door in the main coop, and in the mornings, they cannot wait until it opens all the way. The youngsters (Shirley's growing chicks) will push their heads into the slooooowly opening gap and push the door up to get out.

Which means Carl the dominant and quite large rooster must wait for the thing to be fully open to get out into the run. He USED to be the first out!

Upstart chicks.