We're starting to fly....

[Reinbeau]

Yesterday I was talking to the chicks (oh boy

) and one of the RIR's hopped up on top of the waterer. This morning she was up on the roost when I went in to check them. Practically all of them were flapping around, getting a little air, scooting across the brooder. It's like when your baby takes her first step, you can't wait til it happens, but once it does, it's all over!

What happens if one gets out and can't get back in? I guess I'll have to cover it with some netting for now!

 

[jtotherow]

either flight netting or clip their wings.

 

[HorseFeathers]

Quote:
Netting ought to be sufficient. I personally am against wing clipping.

 

[happyhen]

I used an old window screen to cover the brooder.

 

[patandchickens]

I used a scrap of chickenwire, staplegunned to some scraps of wood to weight it down where it draped past the edges of the brooder

I'd worry about clipping babies' wings after the experience I had losing one of my Sussex chicks at about 2 wks old (broke neck flying headfirst into wall). I'd think a clipped wing would give them even LESS control over what they're doing. If such a thing can be imagined

BTW, congrats on the chicks and their rapid advancement towards chickenhood

Pat, whose chicks at 6.5 wks STILL sometimes fly into walls and the chickenwire side of their big pen and so forth

 

[ams3651]

at 2 or 3 weeks I went back to check on my chicks and found my dog licking one she had carried on the bed and soon after another roosted on the top of the box. She recovered and the dog still thinks shes their mom but I promptly screened the top.

 

[Reinbeau]

Yea, I don't know about clipping their wings, their feathers aren't even out fully yet! I found the netting in the shed, I'll be covering them tomorrow. It's so cute, though, to find them up on the roost, only two or three of them so far, but I'm sure more will be at it soon enough! The box is high, about 4.5', it was the box our big screen TV came in.

 

[Marlinchaser]

We used an old baby gate to cover ours. And if one gets out it will let you know it is out. They only want out till they actually are. You know that crubles are always better outside of the brooder complex going on.