Sleeping under the stars

[suburbanchick]

My chickens always want to roost on the rail of the deck each night. It is such a pain to try to get them to go in to the coop each night... so much that I dread it getting dark every day. I feed them and they run over and a couple (i have 4) run in. I then have to shut the chicken tractor door so the others won't get out. And that means I have to chase the others. I usually don't get them and have to wait till they fall asleep on the rail. Then I grab them while theyre asleep and stick them in there. Of course everyone freaks out and we're all stressed!

Someone suggested that I keep them in the run for two weeks or so and they'd get the hint. But it's really too small for that. I had planned for them to only sleep and lay eggs in there and free range the rest of the time.

Anything I can do to get them in? Or should I take a chance and let them stay out? When we go on vacation, thats what they do bc I dont want to ask anyone to go through that trouble for me.

We are in the middle of a subdivision in the city and have a small yard with a 6' privacy fence. There are houses all around us... probably 30 feet away on all sides. There are no dogs loose and I've never seen any wildlife other than squirrels and birds.

Does anyone let their chickens sleep outside?

Will the stress of me grabbing them while they're asleep be unhealthy for them?

They are going to lay eggs wherever (they're 17 weeks now) and we'll have an 'egg hunt' every day, I'm sure, even though I have very nice nesting boxes for them.

Alright, thanks in advance for helping me out. I'm going to go round up the birds and try to get them in!

 

[suburbanchick]

I just thought of another important question. It's pouring rain right now. If we were gone out of town and they were left out to sleep on the deck rail all night and it rained this hard all night, what would the chickens do? Would they sit on the rail and get rained on, or would they sleep under the deck out of the rain and not roost?

 

[Wolfpacker]

I live in a neighborhood in the middle of a city with houses all around and I lost all three of my chickens to a racoon or opossum last year. I wouldn't advise it.

 

[suburbanchick]

From Raleigh too! What part of town do you live, if you don't mind my asking?

Do your chickens go in by themselves? Or did you get more?

I'm so sorry you lost all of your chickens. That scares me. Do you have a 6' fence?

 

[Wolfpacker]

Whoa.

I didn't even notice that when I posted. I live near the intersection of Six Forks and Wake Forest.

Last year, I had three Rhode Island Reds. I tractored them in my back yard in a little portable tractor I made. Everything was fine. Then my cousin moved into a house with a chain link dog kennel. He wasn't going to use it, so he gave it to me. The very first night I put them in there, I lost one. Then I tried to secure it with chicken wire, but something meticulously picked its way through the wire and killed the remaining two.

I now have six new Domineckers. They are in the kennel which has hardware cloth buried in the ground around the perimeter and I built a wood frame with hardware cloth to go over the top. I have a new coop I bought from My Pet Chicken that is also secured with hardware cloth. They've only been outside a little more than a week now but so far so good.

They go in their coop on their own and I walk out there and shut it and lock them up. I also have a motion light in the kennel.

 

[suburbanchick]

How wierd! We live behind Wicker Gallery off of Hwy 70... next light up after Lynn Rd.

In case you didn't see my other questions, I edited my previous post.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Hey. I edited my post also.

Here's another story.

Sunday before last I had my chicks in the tractor in the backyard. I was sitting about 3 feet away from them reading. Suddenly, I heard something above my head. A hawk swooped down and tried to get one, but was thwarted by the chicken wire on top of the tractor. He flew up and sat on my house and looked down until a crow chased him away.

All this within a mile of downtown Raleigh!

Take care of those chickens. It will happen when you least expect it!

 

[suburbanchick]

Oh wow... how scary! I'll keep putting them up each night. Just went out and got all wet, but at least they're safe.

 

[Wolfpacker]

I just went out and got all wet and locked mine up. But thank goodness we're finally getting rain around here!

 

[suburbanchick]

I'm SO glad to see the rain too!