Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[junebuggena]

My coop isn't dirt.....hmm. I guess I'll make a poop hammock to put under the roost bars. The only problem is, they don't sleep on them! They sleep on the bedding. Will they choose the roost bars when they get a bid older? (They are about 14-15 weeks now) or do I need to put them up there to teach them?

They'll figure out roosting eventually, as long as the roosting bars are wide enough. Some of mine took over 16 weeks to figure out roosting. With no adults to show them, it can take a while.

 

[pennyJo1960]

by the way I have home for my roo's

 

[Manningjw]

Rats will also dig under the coop and come in that way if your ground is soft enough.

And yes, the rats can harm the chickens. Usually they just eat the feed and crap everywhere. However, they will kill chicks and also chew on the feet of roosting chickens as they sleep. We recently lost our barn cat and now we have rats. I've caught four, but there is at least one left that is very difficult to catch. I'll have to be persistent though.

They can harm the little ones but I have never had it happen yet. Mostly just as you said they eat the food and poop in the food potentially spreading disease and increasing your feed costs exponentially as the rat population explodes around you with access to unlimited feed.

Hopefully no rats find our coop. It has some 1" gaps along the back where we staggered the purlins that are kinda hard to fit hardware cloth across. Do rats attack chickens? The one you built with your friend looks very nice!

The best protection against rats in my experience is making sure to secure your feed while chickens are sleeping. I keep the feed in the coop itself which has a closing door and no gaps that are big enough for a rat to fit through (1.5" roughly). Before i made the coop door close at night, I had a big rat problem.

My buddy took a different approach with a stand on chicken feeder, meaning when the chickens go to get food they stand on a lever that opens up the feeder for them to eat. Rats would be both too light and too small to activate the feeder AND have access to the feed.

 

[Manningjw]

by the way I have home for my roo's

That's good! I am a little worried with 33 eggs showing normal development in the incubator. That is 15+ roosters that will need homes eventually!

 

[vasher]

Mine are 5 weeks and sit on their perch for relaxing time, but when they actually want to sleep, they all fight for a spot in the corner of the brooder. The ritual takes about 30 min and is quite noisy. Once settled, they puff up, and the mass of them rather resembles a Tribble from Star Trek.

Mulling over whether I can let them free-range the backyard when I'm at work. We have a 5ft privacy fence that keeps out dogs, but IDK if these guys will keep an eye out for hawks or decide to fly out and visit neighbors.

 

[TakeMeHomeJoJo]

Mine are 5 weeks and sit on their perch for relaxing time, but when they actually want to sleep, they all fight for a spot in the corner of the brooder. The ritual takes about 30 min and is quite noisy. Once settled, they puff up, and the mass of them rather resembles a Tribble from Star Trek.

Mulling over whether I can let them free-range the backyard when I'm at work. We have a 5ft privacy fence that keeps out dogs, but IDK if these guys will keep an eye out for hawks or decide to fly out and visit neighbors.

Yep, same here. Without clipping their wings, how high of a fence will deter them from flying over?

 

[Manningjw]

Mine are 5 weeks and sit on their perch for relaxing time, but when they actually want to sleep, they all fight for a spot in the corner of the brooder. The ritual takes about 30 min and is quite noisy. Once settled, they puff up, and the mass of them rather resembles a Tribble from Star Trek.

Mulling over whether I can let them free-range the backyard when I'm at work. We have a 5ft privacy fence that keeps out dogs, but IDK if these guys will keep an eye out for hawks or decide to fly out and visit neighbors.

If they want to they can clear a 5 ft fence but if you clip one wing's flight feathers they shouldn't be able to once they are adults.

My birds can fly up to the top of my 8 ft coop if I don't clip feathers on one side. I always know when they finish their molt or re-grow wing feathers because one of my birds likes to fly up to the roof of the coop and announce she has finished laying her egg!

 

[Manningjw]

Yep, same here. Without clipping their wings, how high of a fence will deter them from flying over?

Depends on the breed. A big heavy breed like Australorp, Orpington etc might be deterred by a 5 ft fence, but a light breed like Leghorn will laugh at that same fence. There is no damage done to the bird by clipping however so if I have a bird that likes to escape, I clip the wings for their protection. They aren't very smart and sometimes can get stuck outside the run if they escape.

The type of fence also plays a large role, a sturdy wood fence is an inviting perch for chickens. Wire fences that wobble on the top are not and the birds are far less likely to try to fly on top or over them.

 

[junebuggena]

I've had some very large, heavy girls clear a 6 foot fence and fly all the way across the yard and still clear the fence on the other side of the yard. Even the bigger birds can be good flyers.

 

[Manningjw]

I've had some very large, heavy girls clear a 6 foot fence and fly all the way across the yard and still clear the fence on the other side of the yard. Even the bigger birds can be good flyers.

They certainly can be but I haven't had quite as many issues with them as I have had with my leghorns or my project leghorn mixes. My project girls can fly 8 feet up without thinking twice about it!

Once they were adults, we didn't have to clip our Australorp or Barred rocks wings but we kept clipping the lighter birds because they continued to escape. Perhaps that also has to do with personality as well.