ROOSTING OUTSIDE

[HickoryHollow]

OK, this may be nothing, but seems strange to me. I put a roost in the run, but also put 2 roosts inside the coop, at different levels. I brought my first ladies home yeasterday afternoon. I bought 5, 7 month old New Hampshire reds, and 3 Road Island Reds. The mingled and checked out the new place for a couple of hours. Then when I checked them at about dark, they were all lined up (all 8 of them) on the roost that is outside in the run.

I wasn't worried about their safety because they are inside an enclosed chainlink run, but I couldn't figure out why they didn't go inside.

Any thoughts?

Tim

 

[aoxa]

Chickens take some time to get used to a new location. I would not feel safe them being in a chain-link run. Especially if they are close to the sides of it while roosting. Raccoons have been known to devour a chicken by turning them through the slots. You need to put them in the coop manually, or replace the chain-link with hardware cloth.

 

[just me]

Chickens take some time to get used to a new location. I would not feel safe them being in a chain-link run. Especially if they are close to the sides of it while roosting. Raccoons have been known to devour a chicken by turning them through the slots. You need to put them in the coop manually, or replace the chain-link with hardware cloth.

I agree about putting them inside the coop. We went camping the other weekend and came home to a headless chicken body inside the run, close to the fence. It looked like something had tried to pull it through. It's been really hot here and I've had to run the chicks inside at nignt. I figure they were sleeping too close to the fence and one got nabbed. Whatever it was must not have been able to get inside the fence.

 

[schrunk11]

If you can remove the roost that's outside, they'll go inside and roost where it's safer. I've even had hawks pull chickens through chain link fencing during the day, so you should still think about attaching chicken wire or hardware cloth to the chain link.

 

[HickoryHollow]

If you can remove the roost that's outside, they'll go inside and roost where it's safer. I've even had hawks pull chickens through chain link fencing during the day, so you should still think about attaching chicken wire or hardware cloth to the chain link.

That actually did it! I pulled the roost from outside. That evening, they all went inside and roosted right where they should have. (my ouside roost = bad idea!)

Thanks, Tim

 

[aoxa]

That actually did it! I pulled the roost from outside. That evening, they all went inside and roosted right where they should have. (my ouside roost = bad idea!) 

Thanks, Tim

It is a good idea once they are used to their coop