My barn is falling down. This does great harm to the chicken pen inside*. The door frame is warped due to the barn taking on a lean, leaving a gap under the door. Some of my chickens found the gap, and were outside the pen when I came to feed them. I had blocked the gap with a roll of chicken wire but somehow they moved it. So I figured I'd leave it open and let them free range.
Oops. I come home and the fat broilers are there but the layer chicks were not. Two were on the barn roof. Several had climbed up to the hayloft where a section of it had fallen partially down. Once there, two had taken the further step of going through a hole in the roof to get onto the roof. The rest of the chicks were still in the hay loft.
I chased one off the roof by spraying water with the hose. The other wouldn't come. By nightfall, they were all at least off the roof. Which is good, there are owls about.
This morning some were back ready to be fed, but about 4 were still up in the loft. By a rough count, I haven't lost any yet. I am guessing they will come down when they get hungry enough. I am not going up after them.
* I do have another pen in another building. I just need to butcher the broilers and the mean rooster and then the layer chicks can be integrated with the hens I have now. That should happen this weekend. How the heck I catch the little buggers I don't know.
4 comments:
"How the heck I catch the little buggers I don't know."
Yeah, good luck with that. Sometimes just the Cornish Rocks are hard to catch, let alone the bastards that can jump and fly. We still have 3 Ameraucanas that fly over the fence. Now, not only do they fly over the fence, they sneak into the Cornish Rock area and eat their food. I keep trying to get them out of there, but I can't watch them all day.
"How the heck I catch the little buggers I don't know."
You're over looking the 22 cal solution. After 1 to the head, they go slower.
That is undoubtedly effective , but I fear egg production will suffer.
You could always consult and old wise hen for advice. (It's an amusing story I found the other day)
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