Rural Gardening: Scooting guinea, 1 by jab91864

jab91864 wrote:
I release inside the coop/hen house. In fact I find on young ones with older stock in the pen I gradually release them by putting them in a large dog cage inside the hen house for several days atleast before letting them free inside the hen house itself. That way they have a little time to adjust to change without being a target of older chickens.

I've noticed sometimes when I let younger stuff loose it will be days before I see them actually walk down the ramp and out of the house. It's a big transition. When I first opened my hen house and put my stock inside I kept the lil door closed for about 10 days before I decided to let them have freedom of choice.

Here is a pic I took 2 wks ago of my chicken area. The original intent was the barn style was for the chickens and the topper shed was a temporary structure for the turkeys. Come fall all my extra roos will go to freezer camp and that will give everyone more space as well during the winter months when I am assuming they will all want to be inside more. The turkeys were of course intended for freezer camp which is why I felt they only needed a temp structure.

Because some refuse to go into the hen house at night I have taken to leaving the little door open. I hope I don't come to regret that choice. I would be more comfortable if everyone in the pen were locked in the coop at night. I moved another lower roost into the other building (topper shed) today and hope to be able to entice some of the poultry to maybe go in there to roost at night. I can lock the door behind them. The chickens and the guineas do pop in that building during the day to see what the turkeys have left behind....they are terrible for spreading their feed everywhere.......

It's nothing fancy but it's functional and we all seem happy enough with it.

~Julie =0)



This message was edited Jun 8, 2007 11:25 AM