Ok...Help

ClubChickenMed

Hatching
6 Years
Apr 26, 2013
6
0
7
I feed and water my chickens every morning and evening. In the mornings, they get out when I get in to water them....they wander my yard...which has been fine during the summer. But...as fall moves in, and school starts, I wont be able to keep checking on them during the day. In fact, it will be a pretty quick visit in the mornings.... Not sure how to remedy this. They have plenty of space in their coop... and I cant just let them out, as it isnt fair to my neighbors.... Any ideas????
 
You have a chicken run off of the coop, right? So they get out of the chicken run when you put out the feed and water in the run? I have a group of hens who do that too, and I would have to pick each one up and carry her back to the coop. My barred rocks were especially pesky because they would run away when I tried to pick them up. It has been too hot to chase them around even at 8 am lately. Even treats did not make it that much easier to get those Barred Rocks.

To prevent them from getting out I found it helps to scatter scratch grains or some other treat through the wire away from the run door when I ready to go in. They were so distracted with pecking the scratch that they did not run out. I learned that I had to bring an extra handful of scratch to throw when I was ready to go out, so they wouldn't run out when I left. Now they are a little less eager to run out when I come by because they are ready to run after a treat. If they like greens like grass or clover, that is another option.
 
Rig up some sort of mechanism to refill the water without having to open the run or do it at night when they are sleeping. If the door to the run opens out, you should be able to slip in without them escaping. The idea of tossing some treats is a good one, too.

When I made my coop, I made it part of the perimeter of the run. I can clean the coop, change food, retrieve eggs without entering the run. The water supply is filled from the outside of the run. The feed is in the coop.

If the run is large enough, they can stay there all the time. They might not be happy, but will adapt.

When I am out of town, no one lets the chickens out to forage. They get along just fine. There are 9 chickens in 320 square feet of run.

Chris
 

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