Story of a boy and his chickens.

Zackman23434 · Aug 1, 2015

Chickenchick11 · Aug 2, 2015

I love your chickens and coop! Elvis sure is a pretty boy! I can't wait to see him as he grows up, he'll definitely be handsome. I have Rhode Island Reds as well, but I only have 3 hens. They're wonderful birds though, pretty, friendly, sweet, lay plenty of eggs and love to free range. They're my favorite breed closely followed by RSLs and WRs.

Zackman23434 · Aug 2, 2015

Thank you. They all seem very healthy and all love to be let out to chase bugs, run away from larger bugs, and eat everything in site!

drumstick diva · Aug 2, 2015

What a bird beautiful yard they have, it will take them quite awhile to destroy all that grass. Beautiful people house too! As to roosting maybe you need to put them on the roost one by one, so they get the idea. Or they may be staying on the floor because it is too dark when they go to bed. A light on timer to go off 20 minutes after dusk would give them enough time to hop up on the roost. Once it's dark birds don't like to move., so they should stay put till morning.

Zackman23434 · Aug 2, 2015

Well before they go In the coop they come chirping and walking around me and roost on my arms. Then they go in ththe coop. When they are in the coop there is still plenty of light to see. Today one actually jumped up there and they all stopped dog piling and watched. They then went back to dog piling and then RIR never even sat down before she joined back in the corner.
I have tried to to place them up there but it was short lived. Not too mention mine do not like to be picked up.

Zackman23434 · Aug 2, 2015

P.S. I do not have electric for the coop. Maybe by winter but I'm not too worried about it. Though I am beginning to understand when people say opening the run door amd closing it everyday gets old. It restrict what I can do with personal time as I need to be home by dark.

cavemanrich · Aug 4, 2015

Zackman23434 said:
P.S. I do not have electric for the coop. Maybe by winter but I'm not too worried about it. Though I am beginning to understand when people say opening the run door amd closing it everyday gets old. It restrict what I can do with personal time as I need to be home by dark.

You can install a Ador1 automatic chicken door when your chickens develop a good routine of going to sleep at sundown. It is battery operated and automatic. There are other brands as well. I liked this one the best. Here is a link to a thread discussing chicken doors. There are more threads but this one is a recent addition.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1008207/automatic-coop-door Ideal placement would be from closed run area into coop.

NICE JOB ON YOUR PROJECT.