PLEASE HELP I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO

[Hartsharvestfarms]

I also personally do not clip my birds wings because we have a few acres surrounded by running water, this creates a natural barrier for the birds as they will not cross it. My lavender Orpington’s are a larger breed, so can really only fly briefly before they reach full size and and never actually “take flight” like small birds. I like to leave the wings fully in tact in case they need to escape a predator. I may clip one wing if they were not free range or if we had a much smaller area for them.

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

Did your birds come from the same farmers that built the coop?

 

[black_cat]

I also personally do not clip my birds wings because we have a few acres surrounded by running water, this creates a natural barrier for the birds as they will not cross it. My lavender Orpington’s are a larger breed, so can really only fly briefly before they reach full size and and never actually “take flight” like small birds. I like to leave the wings fully in tact in case they need to escape a predator. I may clip one wing if they were not free range or if we had a much smaller area for them.

Yes, if I could have my dream setup (just picture tons of space and tons of animals) I wouldn't be clipping their wings. I am not as worried about the sexlinks, just the leghorn as I know that they are notoriously good flyers.

 

[rosemarythyme]

that makes sense! Would I want to put the vertical let of the L on the inside of the existing fencing or the outside?

Outside is probably going to be easier... if I recall correctly your hardware cloth on the mini run is on the outside right?

Wire clothes hangers? (if no-one wants them.)

The hangers would definitely make for good landscape staples, good thinking!

 

[Hartsharvestfarms]

It is possible for beaks to grow back, make sure you offer oyster shell so your birds are getting enough calcium

 

[black_cat]

Did your birds come from the same farmers that built the coop?

Yep....based on what they've given us/their website/their reviews I don't think that they care for their birds very well....the coop (3x4ish) with a run of the same size is advertised as being for 3-5 birds, they gave us a feeder meant for chicks to use on adult birds, and the hens were in pretty bad shape when we got them. The coop is quite sturdy and well built though.

 

[black_cat]

Outside is probably going to be easier... if I recall correctly your hardware cloth on the mini run is on the outside right?



The hangers would definitely make for good landscape staples, good thinking!

Yep, it is on the outside. I was just checking to see if either would work. If the inside is more secure, I'd do that, even if it's a bit harder to wrangle.

 

[black_cat]

It is possible for beaks to grow back, make sure you offer oyster shell so your birds are getting enough calcium

Yes, I do offer oyster shell. I haven't been able to get anything into the run to hold the grit and shell, so I have been pushing some through the hardware cloth into piles on a daily basis. Once the run extension comes I'll be able to change this, but for now that's what's going on.

 

[NatJ]

Do the chickens try to rush out past you if you open the run? I would expect that you can open the door, put your hand in, and sit down a dish of shell and one of grit.

You've already said the chickens do not want to be touched, so they probably do not want to run over you to get out, either.

Or do it at night, after they are asleep.

But if what you're doing is working for now, then that's also fine.

 

[black_cat]

Do the chickens try to rush out past you if you open the run? I would expect that you can open the door, put your hand in, and sit down a dish of shell and one of grit.

You've already said the chickens do not want to be touched, so they probably do not want to run over you to get out, either.

Or do it at night, after they are asleep.

But if what you're doing is working for now, then that's also fine.

One escaped the first night we got them. Luckily we were able to catch her, but that incident has left all of us rattled. The problem would be refilling the dishes. If I wanted to do this from the outside, I'd want to set up something that was zip tied to the wall so I could pour through the hardware cloth. What I'm doing now is working ok so I think I'll stick with that until the extension comes. When they hear me unlatch the door to the coop, they all immediately hop into the coop...I solved this problem by having someone else distract them with treats so that I can reach in and put a piece of cardboard across the door from the coop to the run. This lets me move stuff around as I need without them trying to escape. Sometimes I have to just reach my hand into the coop to shoo one of them out, and they don't seem to like my hand, so that is working ok. Obviously I don't want them to live in fear of my hand forever, but for now I'm glad that the shooing works.