It has gotten cold here in the Ozarks. Last night was our first freeze advisory. Some of the chickens have figured out the coop is now pest-free and are sleeping inside once again. Three to four of them are still trying to spend the night in a tree, and about five try to sleep on the top of the fence that makes up their enclosure. I go out every evening and gently toss their little butts into the coop.
"We're stubborn. We like sleeping in the cold.
"I like sleeping in this cedar tree and pooping all over it."
Loudmouth's butt. She's the smartest chicken of them all. She always sleeps in the coop or in a nest box and used to be my most consistant layer until we got the roosters.
On warmer nights, after putting them back into their pen, some chickens chose to sleep on these boards...and shit all over them.
The above two photos were taken during the Great Mite Infestation of 2017. At this time the chickens were refusing to use the coop in any way, shape, or form.
So the chickens are pest-free now and starting to use the coop again. Hooray! Accomplishment feels good!...except now I'm afraid Forghorn has the pox...sigh...off to the farm store again...
so glad your girls are happy and warm, won't be long and they will roost inside again every night. Let's hope so anyways, it would suck having to go out every night during the ice and snow!!
Sounds like some amusing chickens! Our slept in trees and on the fence when we got them too, but a few got eaten so we learned out lesson and shut them in the coop every night for a while, they figure it out eventually lol. Chickens are rad.
Yeah, luckily my chickens dustbath on the daily and havent seemed to have mite issues! I hear diotomachious earth or however you spell that will kill the buggers but not harm the chickens
Mine dust-bathe all the time too. I just failed to quarantine a new rooster that was apparently already infested. I added diotomacious earth to their enclosure so hopefully that helps as well.
once, when I got new chickens, they were in a different coop for a while but when we integrated them one just decided to sleep in the coop with the rest of the other chickens on her own.
So glad to see some of them are getting back in the coop again. A few more frosty nights and the rest will probably figure out warm is better than stubborn.
so glad your girls are happy and warm, won't be long and they will roost inside again every night. Let's hope so anyways, it would suck having to go out every night during the ice and snow!!
They better had!!! I'm not their personal Uber to the coop.
are you sure? haha
If it was that cold here at night, I'd be putting my little butt in the coop! No help needed...lol
Me too!!! My chickens are spoiled and complicated. sigh
Sounds like some amusing chickens! Our slept in trees and on the fence when we got them too, but a few got eaten so we learned out lesson and shut them in the coop every night for a while, they figure it out eventually lol. Chickens are rad.
They definitely keep me busy. I'm still waiting for mine to figure it out. Having mites set them back a bit on the training.
Yeah, luckily my chickens dustbath on the daily and havent seemed to have mite issues! I hear diotomachious earth or however you spell that will kill the buggers but not harm the chickens
Mine dust-bathe all the time too. I just failed to quarantine a new rooster that was apparently already infested. I added diotomacious earth to their enclosure so hopefully that helps as well.
ahh yeah the quarintine is important. Apparently all wild birds have them so any contact with them can spread it.
once, when I got new chickens, they were in a different coop for a while but when we integrated them one just decided to sleep in the coop with the rest of the other chickens on her own.
So glad to see some of them are getting back in the coop again. A few more frosty nights and the rest will probably figure out warm is better than stubborn.
Great job on remedying an epic infestation!
Thanks, @aunt-deb. It was quite the chore!
Good to see that you have your mite problem under control.
Yes! and I'm definitely paying more attention to cleaning the coop properly. Especially now that Foghorn has the pox.