Skittery Runners - helping them calm down

[tia]

Very nice.... I see why you may need some way to tell them apart though.

 

[Amiga]

Update: Somewhere this morning it began to click. Last night I looked online for clues to their behavior, and came up with a possibility: runners HATE being cornered. I decided to see if that was at least part of the problem.

I will spare you all the play by play, boring details. The runners get a little nervous, but nowhere near panic, if I let them leave the room that the brooder is in (a small room, perhaps 10' by 12') and walk out into the hallway (no carpet, what a blessing).

I can do my work in the brooder while they mill about in the hall. When I am done, I have a way to double back behind them and by simply making a little noise, that starts them back into the brooder - quickly, but not falling all over themselves screaming. They pop into the brooder, and are fine.

Now, I did not intentionally corner them. But apparently they had grown enough that the brooder did not seem so spacious to them, and even the additional 16 square feet or so in the rest of the room felt cramped. But the hallway, out of sight of the brooder, and with another spacious, oh, say, 80 square feet, that seems to be enough breathing room for them.

May I just say I am relieved??????

P.S. tonight I did not completely remove the folding panel that I use instead of a door (for better ventilation), and the silly birds crammed themselves into a fold in the panels (there are three panels hinged together), and started to scream and panic.

After I gently herded them out of their self-imposed corner, they went into the hall and all was sweetness and light again. sigh.