New to the chicken thing!

[mickey328]

Even designate a specific bowl or bucket when you take them treats...they'll learn very quickly to associate it with goodies and come a-runnin! I have a big stainless steel bowl I use to gather goodies from the yard for them. As soon as they see that bowl, they all but go into hysterics, LOL

 

[wbarb19]

Will have to remember that about the corn bread...I remember our grandmother telling us she had an old hen that she'd give left over cereal the kids left behind after eating. She said she'd watch the kids Monday through Thursday only and the old hen would put up such a ruckus and show when the cereal didn't come on Friday, Saturday or Sunday that my grandmother eventually started just making the hen her own small bowl of cereal.

 

[BigRooNTN]

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Will have to remember that about the corn bread...I remember our grandmother telling us she had an old hen that she'd give left over cereal the kids left behind after eating. She said she'd watch the kids Monday through Thursday only and the old hen would put up such a ruckus and show when the cereal didn't come on Friday, Saturday or Sunday that my grandmother eventually started just making the hen her own small bowl of cereal.

That's so funny. Last winter I started bringing the girls a warm mash (their regular feed mixed with hot water to make a mash plus treats, like a scoop of plain yogurt, yesterday's vegetable peelings etc.) in the morning along with their regular feed and water when I let them out of the coop in the morning. On days when I was running late and didn't bring the mash they would stand around staring at the place the mash usually went. Luna, my WPR would usually hop up on the roost, look at me with her head cocked to the side and make a noise that sounded like "whaaaaaaat the #@&%?"

Good luck with the free-ranging. My girls are always happy to come out and equally willing to come back inside for a handful of scratch or a few scraps of bread.

 

[sezjasper]

We have four girls that roam our yard every day when someone is home (which is every day now since I was laid off last month...sheesh...) Our yard has a 5' privacy fence. Twice we've had a chicken fly up onto the top of the coop and from there, onto the top of the fence and then down into the neighbor's fenced yard. Friendly neighbor, and it wouldn't be a huge problem except the neighbor has two huge dogs. I didn't want to clip wings, so what I did was buy a package of deer netting; stapled it to the fence, the length of the coop and run, and then used plastic ties to attach the netting to tree branches that extend over the coop. This way the chickens can still get up on top of their coop and run, but can't fly up to the fence (the netting would bounce them down). So far, so good.

 

[Chicken scratch]

If you live in the country just let em rome, they will come back to there coop once they know where they live and will usually not go more than 50 yards from there coop anyhow. we always give ours a little chicken scratch just before we put them up at night so if anything they are ready to go in before we are, usually waiting around for their treat.

 

[Undimere]

I had let my bantam girls roam free for about two weeks but suddenly one of my girls disappeared and the next morning a hawk was perched ON THE COOP waiting for breakfast to be served

I have since fenced off an area 15 x 15 with a deer net over their playground. They enjoy the grasshoppers and cherry tomatoes in safety and I don't have to keep checking on my girls every 5 minutes.

 

[lorindaeb]

I let them out for about an hour this morning....they LOVED IT!!!!! I have a soccer game to get to, so I didn't want to leave them out unattended.....yet. I brought out a bowl of raisins and some bird seed (which they love to dig around for) and it only took about 2 min for them to get the idea that it was time to go back to the coop. I like the idea of getting a special bowl for treats only so that they learn that they will get something special when it comes out.

I really appriciate all the feed back! It is fun to be part of a community that is so willing to give out ideas and info! I don't know why I waited so long to join. This is one of the first websites I visited when I got the chicks at 2 days old.

Thanks again everyone!!

~ Lorinda ~

 

[DrHoverbottom]

We live in the 'burbs and our girls are out all day. The fellow who we purchased the girls from had a hawk nest on his property and so the pullets were already pretty hawk savvy and we have been lucky that we have not had any incidents, our 16lb outdoor kitty keeps the yard free from other daytime pests that might hassle the ladies. Although our plan was to let the girls out only while we were home, DH started leaving them out when he would leave for the day and over time we grew more comfortable with it. Now the girls make quite the ruckus if they are not let out of their run by 6:15 each morning and they patrol the yard until it gets dark. The only problems we have encountered is (a) poop gets everywhere and I feel like I am forever hosing down the lawn furniture and (b) two of our girls prefer to lay their eggs in the yard so we are having to stay on top of the latest and greatest nesting area...this is not a big deal...in fact its kind of funny (or would be if I wasn't 9 months pregnant and unable to move around like I used to). Right now the ladies have taken a liking to a tomato plant that has fallen on its side, it is nice and cool under there, so I image its a very pleasant place to lay eggs.

Enjoy your chickens, we sure have!

 

[Roxannemc]

Sounds like you have good cover, smart to check the fence. For treats we started with raisins, ours love them as well as scratch or sunflower seeds(un salted). I've even use a handful of their feed. I'm also new to this, but thought we weren't suppose to feed layer until they start to lay, the extra calcium can be harmful?

Ithi kif they are close to laying you can use layer feed but NOT for babies b/c yes it has too much calcium that can damage their liver or kidneys not sure which.