Appreciate some advice

[Big Mama Chicken]

I started last year with 6 comets and this year added 2 BSLs. I live in town so no roos for me. My 2 BSLs are very skittish and when I try to integrate them in the pen, they either hide behind the cinderblock holeing the waterer or they fly on top of the coop. Their skittishness has just moved them way past the bottom rung of the pecking order. I have been trying to integrate them for a month without success. I tried leaving them in the pen but they fly to the roof of the coop and stay there--they won't eat or drink unless I handfeed or hand water. If they get caught on the ground, they have flown on my back, my shoulder and drawn serious blood on my hands and arms. I don't know what to do. I currently have them in a dog run adjacent to the pen. When they are in the dog run, they spend most of their time up against the pen unless I open the gate and then they fly to the top of the coop. Anyone have suggestions? They should begin laying any time but haven't yet. They're 20 weeks old and the comets are a year and 20 weeks old!

 

[Mrs. K]

I am wondering what your measurements are for the coop and the run. And how that space is set up. Usually when you have problems like this, you are trying in too tight of space.

Couple of ideas:

• add clutter to your run - mini walls, totes on the side, ladders, saw horses, pallets leaned agains a wall or up on blocks.
• add multiple feed bowls - set them up so that a bird eating at one, can't see a bird eating at another
• turn the old girls out into the yard or in the dog kennel, and lock the new ones in the run - sometimes spending time without being chased helps them get some territorial rights.
• pin - less peepers - keeps the old girls from chasing

https://www.amazon.com/Weilan-Pheasant-Blinders-Spectacles-Anti-Pecking/dp/B07GN8GKZC?th=1

Once in a while you get birds that just do not fit with the flock. I don't think you are there yet - unless you are just very short of space. Post a picture of your set up. Being short of space is your old girls telling you there is no more room for more birds. It might be that.

Mrs K

 

[Big Mama Chicken]

I am wondering what your measurements are for the coop and the run. And how that space is set up. Usually when you have problems like this, you are trying in too tight of space.

Couple of ideas:

• add clutter to your run - mini walls, totes on the side, ladders, saw horses, pallets leaned agains a wall or up on blocks.
• add multiple feed bowls - set them up so that a bird eating at one, can't see a bird eating at another
• turn the old girls out into the yard or in the dog kennel, and lock the new ones in the run - sometimes spending time without being chased helps them get some territorial rights.
• pin - less peepers - keeps the old girls from chasing

https://www.amazon.com/Weilan-Pheasant-Blinders-Spectacles-Anti-Pecking/dp/B07GN8GKZC?th=1

Once in a while you get birds that just do not fit with the flock. I don't think you are there yet - unless you are just very short of space. Post a picture of your set up. Being short of space is your old girls telling you there is no more room for more birds. It might be that.

Mrs K

The coop itself is about 40" square with a 3' high run on bottom and a roost area on a second level 40" square with a 2 1/2' peak. There are two nest boxes 12" by 40" by 16" high on each side. The pen that it is in is 8' by 16' by 6 1/4" high with what I call the Redneck Raised Bed at one end that is 3' by 9' long (I try to plant "forage" food in there for them). The coop is about halfway in the pen but up against the back fence. The dog run is attached to the pen and is 3 1/2' by 7 1/4' by 4' at the peak. I have a hanging feeder and a wall feeder in the pen and a corner feeder in the run as well as a waterer in both places. You should be able to see my homemade saw horses (2) with limbs for roosting in the pen and a bridge in the run. There is also a corner limb in the dog run. There are wall nest boxes in the pen in addition to those in the coop and one hanging nest box in the dog run. There are hawks in the trees over my back yard so I don't let the girls out to run and fly! Also, I have most of the back yard covered in raised beds as my garden. There are dogs in my neighborhood as well.
I love all my girls and wish that the big girls would accept the little ones (even though the little ones--the BSLs--are actually bigger than the big girls--the comets). Age does have its privileges but I want them to be "family" and don't know what to do to facilitate that. I appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Mrs. K]

Space is the issue. With that coop about 4 birds should fit, thank goodness that you have a much bigger run, or I think you would have had problems before this.

Personally I find a fighting flock ugly to be around. I know you want to keep all of them, but that might not be the best for them.

A lot depends on where you are in the world, what your climate is like, what kind of winters you have, and what kind of building resources you have.

Generally when the poullets start laying, they are accepted into the flock. Until then, they are a sub flock. It is kind of funny, cause you can definitely see the sub flock and then one day it is gone.

However, I think you are trying to get 8 birds to fit where 4-5 birds would be a better number for the space you have.

Choices:

• try the pines peepers
• reduce the size of your flock
• build bigger - rule of thumb 8 birds need about 32 square FEETcoop - so 4ft x 8 ft building, right now you have about a 3.3 ft x 3.3 ft, not anywhere near enough - especially if you truly have winter and short days and long nights.
• A run for 8 birds should be at least 8 x 10 feet - 80 square feet so you are good for that
• I would move the feeders apart, and I would set up a piece of cardboard or plywood, to make a mini wall and set up the feeder behind it, so that a bird eating at one, can't see a bird eating at another.

The real problem is more is not better when you have chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Big Mama Chicken]

Space is the issue. With that coop about 4 birds should fit, thank goodness that you have a much bigger run, or I think you would have had problems before this.

Personally I find a fighting flock ugly to be around. I know you want to keep all of them, but that might not be the best for them.

A lot depends on where you are in the world, what your climate is like, what kind of winters you have, and what kind of building resources you have.

Generally when the poullets start laying, they are accepted into the flock. Until then, they are a sub flock. It is kind of funny, cause you can definitely see the sub flock and then one day it is gone.

However, I think you are trying to get 8 birds to fit where 4-5 birds would be a better number for the space you have.

Choices:

• try the pines peepers
• reduce the size of your flock
• build bigger - rule of thumb 8 birds need about 32 square FEETcoop - so 4ft x 8 ft building, right now you have about a 3.3 ft x 3.3 ft, not anywhere near enough - especially if you truly have winter and short days and long nights.
• A run for 8 birds should be at least 8 x 10 feet - 80 square feet so you are good for that
• I would move the feeders apart, and I would set up a piece of cardboard or plywood, to make a mini wall and set up the feeder behind it, so that a bird eating at one, can't see a bird eating at another.

The real problem is more is not better when you have chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Big Mama Chicken]

If I close up the dog run (I already have plastic over part of the roof to keep a dry place and I have it under a 10X10 popup tent to protect from the rain, would you advise me to add roost bars in it and then wrap it with plastic, leaving some vents on the end, because that would give me a total of 36.215 square feet of "roost space" and then (taking out the 10.89 sq ft that the coop sits on) would leave me just over 144 sq ft of space to roam with 27 sq ft of that being in the RRB where they can scratch in the dirt?

 

[Mrs. K]

What is your climate and weather? Do you get winter as in deep snow? It is not the openness that is hard, it is a snow load can break down roofs, if they are just a tent.

That sounds like a better situation than what you have now. I am not sure if I would move the coop out, or just close it up and leave it in there. It could be a place where the birds do roost on the top, and a place where birds could move away out of sight. One does not want a wide open run. It is good to have things to get behind or underneath or on top of.

However, you might get a pretty penny if you sold that - money you could use to readjust your coop/run set up. You might keep an eye out - often times small sheds are offered for sale very reasonably where as 'chicken palaces' are very expensive - but take your tape measure.

Mrs K

 

[Big Mama Chicken]

What is your climate and weather? Do you get winter as in deep snow? It is not the openness that is hard, it is a snow load can break down roofs, if they are just a tent.

That sounds like a better situation than what you have now. I am not sure if I would move the coop out, or just close it up and leave it in there. It could be a place where the birds do roost on the top, and a place where birds could move away out of sight. One does not want a wide open run. It is good to have things to get behind or underneath or on top of.

However, you might get a pretty penny if you sold that - money you could use to readjust your coop/run set up. You might keep an eye out - often times small sheds are offered for sale very reasonably where as 'chicken palaces' are very expensive - but take your tape measure.

Mrs K

I'm in SE NC. I think last winter we had maybe 4 or 5 nights that got below 20 and maybe a dusting or two of snow. Our winters, as a rule, are fairly mild, averaging in the 40s. This summer, we already had 9 consecutive days above 95 so summer is our real stress time on the girls. Half of my pen has a polycarbonate roof. The other half is covered in hardware cloth and has a tarp over that to keep the sun out, especially in summer. 2 walls of the pen are actually a wooden fence (good for those sideways blowing summer storms) and the other walls are hardware cloth attached to 4X4 posts with 2X4 cross pieces for stability and for nailing. The dog run is physically attached to one end of the pen and it is under a 10X10 popup tent for both shade and rain protection.
My entire lot, house, garage, driveway and all is less than 1/4 acre (8000 sq ft) so I don't have a lot of ability to add much more. To remove the coop from the pen would mean completely dismantling it. It was assembled in the fenced back yard before the chicken pen was built. If I added a shed, it would have to come disassembled and fit in the pen or be small enough to go where the dog run is but allow access around it (this would limit it to a max of 5X8.

 

[aart]

I'm in SE NC

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[Mrs. K]

With that kind of winter, they really only need protection from the wind and sun. I would close up the little coup and save it for when you want to add chicks or something. If they want to roost on it, so be it. You could use it to lean a pallet up against it and stick a food bowl behind it.