New run caused new problems.

[mpgo4th]

My chickens have been in a 10X10 dog kennel since they were 5 weeks old. They have got a lot bigger now and Im scared to let them free range when we are not home. I felt bad about leaving them in that 10X10 pen all day until we got home so I built a bigger pen yesterday. I used three sides of the dog kennel and some old 4x4 posts with a roll of 6 foot chicken wire. They looked so happy to have the extra space to run around and dig. But then last night at dusk, instead of going in the coop two of them decided to roost on top of the 6 feet fence and one decided that a pine tree looked even better to roost in. I got them all down and put them in the coop. Last night I watched every wing clipping video I could find on youtube. First thing this morning I clipped the left wing on all 6 birds. So far so good . We will see if they are all in the coop tonight. Here are some pics of the new run. It's roughly 25ftX25ft but looks like a UFC octagon.


In the first pic you can see them all in the back right corner taking a dirt bath.

 

[cafarmgirl]

How many chickens do you have? It looks like a pretty small coop, they may be feeling overcrowded and/or too hot in there at night as they are getting bigger. Sometimes it's also hard to get chickens to go in at night if they are going into a dark, enclosed box. Plenty of wire covered windows to let in natural light and air can help a lot to make them happier about roosting in their coop at night.

 

[mpgo4th]

I have 6 pullets. The coop is 4X8 and half of it is open with hardware wire. They only started trying to sleep outside after they got out of their covered run. I think 4X8 should be plenty of room for 6 birds.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yeah, should be plenty of room, hard to tell in the pic how big it is. Well hopefully now that you've clipped their wings they'll give it up and sleep where they are supposed to!

 

[mpgo4th]

Well it worked. They are all in the coop safe and sound.