Taming "Wild" Chickens

[centrarchid]

Mine are hardwired to roost up. Hen coop / pen to small, they will not stay with it even after 6 months. What I do is modify the coops to provide more up. For nesting, I make so nest are more dispersed but otherwise more attractive than natural options.

Show pictures of your coops.

Have you seen 5-gallon buckets used as nest sights?

 

[River Faerie]

No, I haven't! My coop is a 'bought on amazon' coop. The nesting/sleeping part is on a second level. I had a large/tall coop, but the hens all free range all day, and the tall one now belongs to the rooster, who doesn't (we never intended to have a rooster, but got him as a day old 4 years ago who was supposed to be a hen - Jackie Onassis became Jackie Chan).

I'm looking at photos of the 5 gallon bucket nests now. They all look to be in very large coops or barns. I guess I need to add some higher structure to the coop, adding buckets above. I will think about how to do that. Thank you! It hadn't occured to me that 'upness' might be the issue.

 

[centrarchid]

Typically, the fully adult rooster would roosting with the adult hens. That not occurring indicates roosting arrangements too tight. Rooster being polish may degrade his ability to roost in more elevated locations. He can not see well enough to see need for better accommodations.

 

[River Faerie]

The rooster does not free range. I don't want fertilized eggs. He couldn't possibly roost with the hens. He has his own coop, with a lot of room. It's not ideal, but it's where we are. He has very high roosting options in his coop.

 

[centrarchid]

By high, I mean 6' or higher. You game hens will could think 35' feet or more is higher. Relative terms.

 

[River Faerie]

Yeah. They used to roost low at my friend's house. But, they'd started going up to the roof, and then up into trees from there. But 6' might be high enough for the others.

 

[centrarchid]

I keep many of mine in pens that are just over 5' high. When they are allowed out, many will roost on top of same pen they were in. Others will roost in a tree that is fairly close, usually within 20' of pen. Clipping wings may deny option of roosting higher up increasing odds they will move into more protected coop. I will look for images I have showing roosts setup for birds that do not use coops.

 

[River Faerie]

Thank you so much! I've been trying to figure it out, but am not really closing in on a good idea.

I don't want to clip wings, because I want them to be able to get away if a predator should wander through during the day; but I also want to protect them from those at night. Sigh. Catch 22.

 

[centrarchid]

Results of mining old and mostly dead threads. Roosting has been a major issue for me for some time. Lots of cool behaviors go with it. The very best images no longer accessible for some reason.

 

[Then I Will]

centrachid knows his games.
They do like to roost high.
Quick story about my English game hen. I had a covered run of Buff Orphintgons back in Alabama. And one day this road runner looking bird came prancing out of the woods, flew-up on top of the run, found a gap in the hawk netting, and joined my flock. I chased her around the pen until I caught her and booted her out as she was beating up on my orphintons single handedly. Five minutes later she was back in the pen, and so it went. Finally, I determined that she was so unusual - I'd never seen a game before - that I would keep her. So I kept her in the run when I let the orphingtons out to free range during the day. Despite my efforts to tame her, she remained a free spirit and even when she did eat out of my hand she exercised extreme caution and jumpiness. I never could pet her while she was on the roost as she would bite and peck relentlessly. She entered the flock over half way up in the pecking order and remained near the top- and had such spunk and fire that I named her Ember. She was a good mother anyhow, and raised me two lovely clutches of orphington chicks.
When I sold my orphingtons to take a trip to Europe, I gave Ember her freedom. She had come to me a free bird, and she remained a free bird. So she had an entire coop to herself for another year, and free ranged daily.
I had to leave her behind when I married, and my parents and siblings continued watching over her and feeding her table scraps when she came around the house. It was just a couple of months ago that something took her. But at least, she had been a free bird. Spunky little Ember. I miss that chick.