Millihelen Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 We all talk about letting the chickens out - but its occurred to me that we all mean different things! And when I ask my son to let them out, he wonders why he gets it wrong sometimes! For my chooks there are actually 4 degrees of "out" 1. Let them out of the cube and into the wire run. I don't normally need to do this as the cube door is left open for most of the year. 2. Let them out of the wire run and into their fenced off area. This keeps them off our bit of the garden but otherwise they are free ranging. They spend most days in this area. 3. Let them out of their bit and into the garden. This is a special treat if we are in the garden though sometimes one will escape on her own! 4. This is the panic when we realise the chooks are roaming around the garden, and somebody has left the side gate open. Everything stops while we close the gate and count heads! So far they haven't found this way out! Hence the confusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busybird Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Like you we have the Eglu door open all the time at this time of year. In winter my husband lets them 'out' before he goes to work. They spend most of the morning in the Eglu run before they are let 'out' into the garden to free range. As our garden is not totally chicken secure we sometimes net off an area near their run but they tend to trash the grass when thus confined so have the run of the big garden most of the time. Occasionally they let themselves 'out' of the garden We then either get a neighbour knocking on our door to tell us they have our chickens in their garden or we realise that they have vanished and find them in our neighbouring wood. If they do this too often then we confine them to the Eglu run for a few days to try to break the habit. I have no idea if this works but at least I can relax knowing they are safe. Last time I cleaned the Eglu they all went through the fence at the bottom of our garden and into the wood, walked along the footpath to our garden gate and tapped on it to be let back in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Mine don't get beyond level 2......unless they form an escape committee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 We have 3 levels - out of eglu, out of run and out of Omlet netted area . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Mine are either out, in the run; out, free-ranging; and out out, in next doors garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millihelen Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 I am so pleased I am not the only one! No wonder my son looks confused when I've asked him to let them out - and then I get all stressed because there are chickens all over the garden and its time to go to work/school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 To us, out means out of the run. We don't have a fenced off area, they have the run of the whole garden so it's a bit easier for us. We always leave the cube door open anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 I am glad to hear that lots of you leave your door open, I had always left ours open enough for the girls to squeeze in and out to go to bed or get up in the morning. I thought that I was being irresponsible. I have been shutting them in recently as a fox has killed some local (non Eglu) chickens and I was worried. We have a garden that is walled on most sides and have never had sight or sound of a fox near the garden. So at the moment we have 2 'Outs' (into run, into garden) instead of 1 'Out' - in to garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
