My 31 chicks don't find the 18" high draft guard on their brooder much of a challenge so I'm used to getting up in the morning to find chicks running everywhere on the screened porch. The last couple of mornings my little silkie, Jethro, has been out of the brooder too. Thinking it's an accident we go through the whole "oh poor little silkie! he must have gotten accidently knocked out of the brooder by the much bigger chicks!" routine. Then we spend the next 30 minutes or so out in the suffocating humidity chasing the little booger all over the porch so that we can put him back in the brooder. The thing is, this is like the fifth morning I've found him running around the porch with the other chicks. It's not an accident, is it? He's making fools outta us, isn't he? P.S. The "out of the brooder" chicks have food and water outside so I'm not worried about that.
Go to Dollar Tree and see if they still have butterfly nets. Or go get a fishing net with a stick handle. Either way, you'll be much happier you did. Last baby I netted was a RIR. She was NOT amused. I was. Good to know these things, as I hope to get a pair or trio of silkies next Spring. They sound like real characters!
Okay, this evening I went out on the porch. The second the chicks hear the click of the door they go running towards their brooder, like they are going to be in trouble for being out. They ran in a straight line - turkens first, then the EEs, followed by a couple of meat birds, then a pause and yep! Jethro in the caboose position. Little so and so.
Did you hear about the kangaroo escape from the Australian zoo? Every morning the keepers had to track down the kangaroos on the loose and put them back in their pen. They decided to make the fence around the enclosure taller and so they extended it to 10ft. high. Next morning the 'roos were out again. Then they made the fence 12 ft. Next morning the 'roos were on the loose again. Then they made the fence 14 ft. The next morning as they were rounding up the 'roos yet again, one of the Kangaroos said to the other one, "I wonder how high they'll go on that fence until they start locking the gate?" You might try putting a screen cover over the top of your enclosure. I sometimes use a scrap piece of 'egg-crate' which is normally used as a screen over florescent lights. Works great, plenty of airflow, stiff enough to handle easily, heavy enough to keep them from dislodging it when they jump up.
Yep...a top...I framed some chicken wire with some spare scraps of wood to fit over the brooder and stopped all the "wild adventures."
