Unable to see from house?

[aart]

^ this is similar to one reason I wish mine was visible from the house. I really like watching them, and I'll sit out with a folding chair in spring-fall. But when the weather is bad or is cold out I feel rather neglectful because I don't spend much time with them other than feeding and watering. Spending even just five or ten minutes in the day where I sit and watch lets me know early if anyone is acting different, sick, or injured.

The best time for me to observe is in the morning, I spread their scratch out in a loooong line so there's a place for everyone.
Then I open the pop door and watch them come out and feed, can see then if anyone is hanging back of having trouble moving.
I do this all year around unless weather is just atrocious.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

The best time for me to observe is in the morning, I spread their scratch out in a loooong line so there's a place for everyone.
Then I open the pop door and watch them come out and feed, can see then if anyone is hanging back of having trouble moving.
I do this all year around unless weather is just atrocious.

In the winter I leave for work before sunrise and I only have 30 minutes of daylight after I get home for the few weeks flanking the winter solstice Even if I want to, I can't do much observing because they're up on the roosts.

 

[aart]

Quote: Oh yeah well I'm 'retired'.
Can't imagine keeping birds while I was working full time and gone for 9-12 hours a day.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I built my coop 4'x 5' and had wheels so was movable. I've since removed the wheels when I built the 500 square foot pen. I put my coop 30' behind my house. I can see them from 2 windows and my back door. If I hear the chickens I just look out the bathroom window. That's how I discovered the Coopers Hawk attack. I would not want it out of site from inside my house, nor 2 or 3 hundred feet, not even a hundred feet away. I have two security lights 2 spot lights each that are motion activated on my house. One of the spotlights is aimed at the coop. The others are to the sides of the coop. The spotlight aimed at to coop can be turned on manually also from my back porch. The outside light at the backdoor can be turned on from inside the house. (PARANOIA) maybe, but I love chicken for dinner and so do many carnivores-foxes and omnivores-raccoons, just to mention a couple. So far in over nine months in their coop I have not lost any of my girls. GC

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Quote:
It stinks. I just started back to work in November. Prior to that I was used to being able to spend time with them throughout the day, especially since I had outdoors projects to work on. I also did a lot of hatching and selling guineas last year and I made good money doing that - it supports the flock. I don't know if I'm going to do it this year, though; it feels too stressful to have to be gone so much when I have eggs and babies to take care of and trying to arrange sales and so on. Right before I went back to work I expanded their run to 700 square feet. I felt so bad about them not being able to free range as much as they were used to.