Mille fleur d'uccles

[RockyToggRanch]

So my little pair of sweetness managed to hop up to the highest roost in their temporary pen. (About 4' off the floor, in front of a window.) I was working inside the new addition, which is just through that window. So they talked to me for hours and we kept each other company while I worked. I gave them a handfull of scratch on the windowsil and they acted starved! I realized that they were afraid to jump down and were up there since the night before. Oh those poor little non jumpers. I rushed around to their side of the wall and rescued them. They gobbled at their feed like crazy for a minute and hopped up on the low roost and smiled their funny little bearded smiles. It's the first time I've seen them on the top roost. It never occurred to me that it might be too high for them.
Cindy

 

[gritsar]

Glad you figured it out. I'm sure they were glad too.
I made sure I only have low roosts for my brahmas. I don't want any leg injuries when they're full grown and heavy from jumping down off of a too high roosts. Most of them are quite happy with their 18" off the ground roosts and honestly, since their coop is very secure there's really no reason for them to need to go higher.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Well this is something that never occurred to me. I never thought about different heights for different breeds. I just assumed that if they got up there..they could get down. (Now I flash to cat stuck in tree).What a great bit of advice for those planning coops.

 

[Wildsky]

My little d'uccles can get higher than the other chickens. A mom and her baby sleep on a shelf in the coop which is a little over 6ft off the ground.

 

[Guitartists]

My d'Uccle hen is the only chicken I have that flies! Everytime she gets riled up and starts flying around she sends everyone else into a tizzy thinking it's a hawk!

 

[gritsar]

I don't know for sure but I imagine the same could be true for those breeds that don't see well due to heavy feathering on the head; like the polish.
I have a partially blind brahma and she doesn't even like to jump up and down from the 18" roosts. If I don't put her up on one in the evenings when they go to roost she'll stay on the floor. In the morning I have to go and set her back down again.

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
My poor rooster gives a warning everytime someone is flying around - lately its the guinea's.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Well these are my first d'uccles and with the heavy feathered feet, I wouldn't expect them to be great fliers. They have not been allowed to free range yet because the big brahma roo attacked him when I first let them out. Now I'm paranoid. So, I don't know what they are capable of. Oohhh...so many "I shoulds"

 

[Attack Chicken]

Got any pics of them?

 

[gritsar]

My chickens don't fly at all. They run really fast flapping their wings as if they were flying, but their feet never leave the ground.