Sooo much pooping

[prudance]

Anyone else had this problem? I have a cube and on a regular basis when I go out to close their door, they all hop out and decide they want more food. During this last cold snap I went to bed a couple of times leaving their door open overnight because they wouldn't stay in. They must have been freezing!

 

It's driving me mad. I guess that is the disadvantage of a cube versus a normal chicken house. Other friends with chickens say that they know when they have a poorly or terminaly ill chicken because they sit in the doorway instead of hopping up to roost. With an eglu, they can't hop up and so mine sit in the doorway every night.

 

I'm trying to come up with a WIR design, and would like the cube on the outside, but then I wouldn't be able to close the door if the chickens were being awkard.

 

Has anyone got any suggestions? Have tried sneaking up in the dark and putting the torch on as late as possible, but they're wise to that one!

[quickcluck]

If ours are guarding the door til the wee hours we just gently push her in and whizz the door shut!

[Patricia W]

I just gently push the lurker in - then whizz the door shut. Most times, I find if I talk to them, and shut the door a bit, they move backward and let me shut it properly.

 

Tricia

[Olly]

Mine used to do this when they were new, are your hens still fairly young? I can recall tiptoeing up the garden in the dark to close the door after they'd gone to bed, and like magic they would appear in the doorway clucking gently, in hope of treats! It didn't matter how quiet I was, they seemed to catch me out every time.

 

Now they're older, they go to bed on their own - last night I was looking for them in the garden, and discovered they'd gone back into the WIR and put themselves to bed even though it was still light!

 

You can either push them gently in, or just leave the door open - they won't freeze in this weather.

[Lewis]

No idea how true it is! but I read somewhere in one of the old books we have that they have receptors in their feet so sense you coming from teh vibrations you make on the ground before they see/hear you. They reckon it was to help with being aware of predators.

 

Will see if I can find it or if I'm just inventing books