PLEASE HELP I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO

[The Backyard Bantams]

Yep! I can give back the *ridiculously small* coop, and build a new one that's properly sized and also fits our needs. can you tell how much I can't wait for when this happens

Can you show a picture now? Is it possible to free range them or is your garden not safe?

 

[black_cat]

Can you show a picture now? Is it possible to free range them or is your garden not safe?

I have a picture somewhere in the first few pages of the thread..it's lost in my computer now and I can't seem to find it. The fencing isn't very good on one side, and we also have a leghorn, I know that they are very skittish and good flyers. We were told to wait a month before free ranging, and i think even that will have some fencing to keep them in a specific area.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

I have a picture somewhere in the first few pages of the thread..it's lost in my computer now and I can't seem to find it. The fencing isn't very good on one side, and we also have a leghorn, I know that they are very skittish and good flyers. We were told to wait a month before free ranging, and i think even that will have some fencing to keep them in a specific area.

If you are worried about them flying over the fence you could clip one of their wings each. That will stop them from flying very high. Just make sure you only do one wing. It unbalances them. If you do both, they can sometimes still fly. If you don’t know how to clip a chicken's wings you can search it up. It’s very easy and doesn’t hurt them. I don’t like to do it to my chickens because I actually like to watch them fly around and they haven’t been close to flying over my fence yet.

 

[black_cat]

If you are worried about them flying over the fence you could clip one of their wings each. That will stop them from flying very high. Just make sure you only do one wing. It unbalances them. If you do both, they can sometimes still fly. If you don’t know how to clip a chicken's wings you can search it up. It’s very easy and doesn’t hurt them. I don’t like to do it to my chickens because I actually like to watch them fly around and they haven’t been close to flying over my fence yet.

I've been thinking about doing this, and think that it would be a good idea for me. However, handling them isn't something that I have been able to do, and that is the main issue.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

I've been thinking about doing this, and think that it would be a good idea for me. However, handling them isn't something that I have been able to do, and that is the main issue.

Why aren’t you able to pick them up? Is it because you don’t want to scare them? I think it would be okay to do it as a one off. Only takes a few seconds to do it and it doesn’t hurt the chicken so it wouldn’t be too stressful I think.

Edit: oh gosh I didn’t even expect the coop to be that tiny. You definitely got ripped off. I’m glad you care about them enough to get them a better situation! You can buy some pretty cheap runs on eBay or Amazon or maybe locally for about $100 - $200. Easy to assemble and attach.

 

[black_cat]

Why aren’t you able to pick them up? Is it because you don’t want to scare them? I think it would be okay to do it as a one off. Only takes a few seconds to do it and it doesn’t hurt the chicken so it wouldn’t be too stressful I think.

Edit: oh gosh I didn’t even expect the coop to be that tiny. You definitely got ripped off. I’m glad you care about them enough to get them a better situation! You can buy some pretty cheap runs on eBay or Amazon or maybe locally for about $100 - $200. Easy to assemble and attach.

Yep...The reason I can't pick them up is because I literally can't get to them
We ordered an extension run that's a bit smaller than the original run, but we are having trouble connecting them because the door on the rental run opens outwards.

 

[black_cat]

Then you can unscrew it, if the measurements work out.
Or unscrew it and hold up there to see what might work best.

Put it in the new run, which is your to modify.
2 would be good, 4 are not necessary.

Sadly, the measurements don't work out and the new run wouldn't be structurally sound, as it has no floor. We're getting some chicken wire and those U-shaped things that you use to fasten it on the ground. We're going to use the excess chicken wire for chunnels.

 

[black_cat]

Yesterday's update: We went to get chicken wire and the hardware store that's near us is out of stock. Same with hardware cloth. They spilled their water yesterday, so I replaced most of the shavings. They kept breaking down the cardboard that we had up, so that's why we couldn't get all of them. These all went to the compost, so at least someone benefitted from them. I don't mind doing the maintenance, I just get frustrated that I'm forced to do the maintenance in the most difficult way possible and I'm powerless to change that. I'm perfectly willing to do it, though. Everything has been going pretty well, in my parents' eyes, I think:
-chickens aren't noisy
-chickens aren't smelly
-chickens aren't difficult to take care of
-I have been faithfully taking care of them
-all of their stuff is cheap (food, pine shavings)
This coming week I will be giving them all chicken lessons (parents and brother) because I'm going away for 3 weeks. *gulp* I am going to my camp, and I have 'hired' a friend who lives down the street who owns chickens to check up on them and make sure that my parents haven't killed them. I'll make sure to explain that everything would be infinitely easier if we keep them, as I'll build them a proper setup. Parents also seem to think that after the rental, if we keep them, we should buy another coop from the same place.They think this because the rental people give you a discount on a coop from them after you do the rental. These coops are all various sizes of tiney, and don't care much for how chickens actually function. All wrapped up in a nice ribbon of being *insanely* overpriced. I'm really hoping that I'll be allowed to build a coop, because A) we can customize it to our needs, B) it's WAY more cost efficient, C) I know how much space and what chickens need to live properly, and D) I get a fun project out of it to keep me busy.
Yesterday we gave the chickens some corn on the cob that we had extra of from dinner. The day before we did watermelon and blueberries, as it's been VERY hot. They love both the corn and the watermelon but blueberries are definitely their favorite. The only thing that definitely hasn't been going well is egg production, but that's ok.

 

[NatJ]

Parents also seem to think that after the rental, if we keep them, we should buy another coop from the same place.They think this because the rental people give you a discount on a coop from them after you do the rental.

You could research the possibility of buying a different style of pre-built chicken coop. Some places that sell sheds also sell chicken coops that are big enough to work well (basically, a shed with minor modifications.) If your parents really want to buy an overpriced chicken coop, it might as well be a useful one

 

[black_cat]

You could research the possibility of buying a different style of pre-built chicken coop. Some places that sell sheds also sell chicken coops that are big enough to work well (basically, a shed with minor modifications.) If your parents really want to buy an overpriced chicken coop, it might as well be a useful one

I'm a bit confused. What do you mean by 'a different style' of prebuilt coop? The only place that sells them near us is that farm, and the best one, which is still tiny, is over $7000. I'll look into sheds, as I know that you can modify them fairly easily, but my parents want the coop to take up less space, and so the way I thought I could do that would be having run space under the coop. I was thinking that I could have a 5x11 run or a 5x12 run, with a 5x6 coop on top of part of it.