DustyDivas
Crowing
Worried as well, the pen the coop is inside is pretty safe but ‘locking up’ 7 feisty large red hens for 24/7 when they are used to part free ranging? Aarrggh!
Is it the wild bird poop that’s dangerous to my girls? What’s minimum sq ft per hen when confined? With a pond and greenhouse I’m not sure iI can keep my girls for their own mental health( my girls are very opinionated and vocal when displeased, a neighbour said two of them howled for three hours when I’d locked them in the pen for a quick hospital visit! ) Covid 19 has meant I’ve been home and gardening so they’ve had loads of free range time for more than 6 months
Any advice pleeeese!!!
My 3 girls can be very screamy when they want something too
Good news is that they can be distracted... I give a few perches and chunks of tree in the enclosed run and change it around every few days. Just moving things around gets them interested & keeps them busy, especially if you do it after they have gone to roost for the night, then they can "discover" it the next day.
I also clear some of the run soil/mulch out of their run (use it on the garden) & give them a section of straw bale with some corn scratch through it. They go nuts for that, they don't eat the straw, but they adore scratching it to pieces and spreading it everywhere
Once they have spread it about, I pile it back up again & they makes lots of little squeals of joy
Hopefully that will work for your flock too.
The smallest of my girls cock-a-doodles if I don't come see her after she has seen that I am up in the morning!