Sleeping under the stars

[devora]

Hey surburbanchick:
I know it can seem not-so-nice to pen up the babies for two weeks wo/ letting them out at all, but it is soooo worth it. If two weeks is too long, try one week. One week inside the run/house and they might well start to go in *e*v*e*r*y* night all on their own. It might be worth the payoff! Good luck.

PS: It probably won't rain here until November. Lordie!

 

[suburbanchick]

Yeah, I plan to do that when the heat of the summer is over. But I just have a hard time doing that when it's in the 90's every day.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Suburban Chick,

What kind of coop do you have now? Did you get to either of the "Henside the Beltline" tours over the past two years? Have you heard of them? I haven't been able to make either because we were out of town but I heard there are some good ideas for nice coops that aren't too unsightly to our "citified" neighbors.

 

[dharveymi]

My chickens free range all day. They don't usually care to go in at night either. We find that if we wait until it's getting dark, show them a small bowl of cracked corn, and pour it into the coop, quite often they'll follow. A few nights we've just left them out (because we were gone and didn't come home until after dark), and they were all intact in the morning. They seemed to prefer it, but I did worry a little about it. I worried more when the rooster was crowing under my bedroom window at 5:30 in the morning instead of way back in his coop where the sound was muffled and let me sleep.

 

[Iamaqte]

Hi Everyone! I must be lucky cause my chickens and ducks.. both waddle into their coupe at dusk.. I just have to lock to door. We started out chickens out in a fenced in area. Nothing fancy, just nice enough to keep them in it.. We even had a few of the smaller ones get out, but they always went back in. Well after about 2 weeks of being in this.. they were always in their house when I got home.. so over the weekend I decided to let them all out and see what happened.. Well to my surprise they all went back into the coupe like they did when penned up at dusk. They love being outside during the day.. especially since we mowed the lawn.. They all charged after the freshly cut grass. It was a trip!
I was afraid of letting them out free range since most people say to get them on a feeding schedule.. Well my babies have food 24 / 7.. Now they go out and all I dont have to refill it as much.. But i love having happy chickens!
Good Luck!

 

[Poupoulles]

My Chix just troop up on their own at about 5 pm. I close it up, change their water one last time and say goodnight. It may be that they need a good roost, or there is not enough roost space. I think if the coop offers the best roost place in town, then they will go. I hate the idea of having to chase them around. Good luck!
Did anyone else from Raleigh see the News and Observer article today? All about how chickens are ok in Raleigh but illegal in Durham and Cary. Interesting and a little nerve-wracking.

 

[Wolfpacker]

I started a thread about the article and posted the link in the North Carolina thread.

Here it is again:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/639645.html

 

[dreamgirl]

Mine aren't quite as bad, they all go in their run (they free range), but 2-4 of them insist on sleeping under the tarp on top of the brooder (with roosts) instead of in it. For a few weeks I moved them inside after dark, but now I let them stay since there is a tarp over their heads and it is a safe as the brooder. We'll see what happens when they move to the coop...