Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: threeranger on August 22, 2010, 22:40
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Well it looks like we didn't clip the two new girls wings very well ! This pic is them attempting to roost in the oak tree in their run tonight, just like their ancestors !
They came from a barn where they roosted a few feet up, maybe the ground level Eglu they have exclusive use of, is a bit too low for them !
To give you an idea of height, this is about 7ft off the ground, we think they got onto a lower branch and hopped their way up - was quite an amusing sight to be greeted with at door closing time :lol:
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Oh bless then! They look really happy up there. How on earth did you get them down?
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You're lucky you can still reach them... I have 9 growers which are currently almost 20 feet up my apple tree. I can't reach them to put them in their (nice, cosy, clean, parasite free) house!
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And to think my girls complained to me that I'd put the roosting perches too high in their new house - the highest one is about 16 inches off the floor!!!
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Haha,
Pigeonpie, luckily i'm 6ft2 ish, so it was just a case of creeping up and then a firm grab, but it was a bit tricky with branches sticking in my ribs !
Casey - is that every night or just tonight ? Saves you having to get up early to let them out i suppose :lol:
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time to cut the branches off lol lol xxx
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haha....same again tonight, even higher and more awkward, but I won in the end !
once they were inside, out came the saw, let's see if i did enough for tomorrow night !
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once they were inside, out came the saw, let's see if i did enough for tomorrow night !
I hope you meant the saw to chop the branches off and not to clip their wings!!!! Ha ha :D
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I have about 10 or so that roost in trees (usually 20+ feet up so at 5 feet tall I stand very little chance of getting them out of trees). Most of my tree roosters do come back to the coops in winter when the trees lose their leaves but Claudette just moves from the apple tree she lives in over to a row of laurels which not only are they about 15 feet high but about 10 feet deep so no chance of getting her ::). Still when they are that high they are safe from foxes and luckily I don't have buzzards etc here.
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:D :D :D aren't chickens wonderful :D :D :D
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It gets more amusing each night....
Tonight they were about 9ft up despite my tree surgeon efforts last night !
I wish we could relax and leave them there, but one hop from that tree and they would be out of the run ! (yep it's uncovered but 7ft high with a lip top and bottom - covering it would be a complex job !)
A change in strategy is needed - need to outwit them somehow :lol:
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what you need is one of the 'tree people' from the peak, they know all about that sort of thing :lol: :lol:
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Haha, I think the next step is to pop down the local fancy dress shop and see if they have any tree costumes ;)
If that works, then Casey and Joyfull can hire me out too....
Time to change my name to tree-ranger me thinks :lol:
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Just logged on, i knew they would out smart you lol lol, bless, hope youve got back up plans, good luck for tonight. nickyx
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Night no.5.....let's go for the element of surprise....
This time i went out 45 mins earlier.....
One in the tree !
The other in.....
The Fuschia bush !
Not sure if that's progress :lol:
Also, this morning I checked on them just before leaving for work and one of them had rebelliously gone up into the tree again....singing away, watching me, as if to signal a long battle of minds lays ahead.
Tune in again - same time tomorrow.....gripping stuff isn't it.....a bit like their feet on those branches :lol:
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You ought to sneak out even earlier and get up in the tree before them...
I'd love to see the looks on their faces when they try to get up and realise that you are happily sat there instead!!!
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Great idea.....i'll take my evening meal with me, and a book, and get comfy :D
On second thoughts....that tree wouldn't hold me !
....you'd love to see their faces when they realise i've just fallen out of said tree onto me bum
;)
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Night no.5.....let's go for the element of surprise....
This time i went out 45 mins earlier.....
One in the tree !
The other in.....
The Fuschia bush !
Not sure if that's progress :lol:
Also, this morning I checked on them just before leaving for work and one of them had rebelliously gone up into the tree again....singing away, watching me, as if to signal a long battle of minds lays ahead.
Tune in again - same time tomorrow.....gripping stuff isn't it.....a bit like their feet on those branches :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:, very funny, i look forward to tomorrow nite
nickyx
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Night 6......
Having evaluated the Health and Safety risks of myself roosting in the trees and decided perhaps not.....i went on a 7pm visit......slight improvement.....one was still up and wandering, but the other was in the Fuchsia !
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I like their style :D
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If only video of this was available... I am sure you would win something for it!
Looks like this is going to be one long battle, I think I will put my money on the chooks :-)
Keep the stories coming in - it makes me smile!
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Thanks to the neighbours dog taking one of my girls, they are happily fenced in on all sides and the top so I dont have to contend with this but this thread is better than any soap.
Can't wait for the next episode.
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'Back to their Roots' The DVD - Release date tbc
"The story of an epic battle of minds between one couple and their poultry"
(said in that really low gravelly american voice that does the movie trailers)
(starting to wish we had video'd it Alan !)
Episode 7 - Progress and Rebellion
Tonight, I didn't get to them until nearer roosting time, so was expecting a double pluck out of trees......
To my amazement there seemed to be no chickens in any trees or fuchsias......low and behold the most rebellious one is at the coop door, considering entry.....
I backed off, and waited......10 mins later and i check the coop......she is there ! Wahey !
Hold on......it's only the one......
I glance up in the ever darkening light (i'm sounding quite dramatic now, what with the future movie and all that) and eventually my eyes pick out a chicken's comb (not easy amidst red fuchsia flowers).
There she is, just within reach, yet surrounded by some dense honeysuckle as a barrier......i eventually clear a hole and reach up.....6 grabs, some huffing and puffing and a lot of flapping later, she glides ungracefully to the floor, ready for some reassuring strokes and then bed. (meanwhile i rub half a fuschia bush off my t-shirt and out of my hair)
We are getting somewhere-ish ! :)
Thanks for all your comments....stay tuned :D
Oh by the way, the one that went into the coop is also the one that laid this:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=64238.0 (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=64238.0)
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Ah, they always say sequels are never as good.... I need more effort and action! :tongue2: :tongue2: :tongue2:
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Here are some of mine roosting in a (lowish) tree. They were good "Weather Cocks" (hens) as they knew when it was going to rain and roosted in their house but on warm fine evenings in the trees. I kept putting them to bed in the house but once the weather turned cold and wet as winter set in they abandoned tree roosting. They aren't stupid.
HF
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im gonna settle down with some popcorn tonight and await the next chapter, keep it coming threeranger, your stories do make me laugh :lol: :lol: :lol:
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We need a story board (thespians in the family tell me that's what it's called) to set the action :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Excellent photo Hillfooter. This is definately one of the funniest threads I have read in a long time. 8)
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This thread should be more properly titled "Going back to their branches" ::)
HF
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Haha HF.....and i'm not sure mine are good weatherhens - as it has rained nearly everyday they have gone up there ::)
HF- Would you mind having a look at one of my other threads - I see your tree roosts were legbars, and I think my tree-roost has some legbar in her too:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=63952.0 (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=63952.0)
Episode 8
Well.....only a short one tonight.....hope Nicky didn't make too much popcorn !
Basically, exactly the same as last night !
At least I know i've done enough tree surgery on the oak, as they have not gone back there, now for some pruning of the giant fuchsia !
We had our second egg from the other one, so I think the fact she is using a nest box in a coop has helped her to see it as a good place to roost too. :) She also jumped on my shoulder randomly this morning, which was a shock as she normally runs away (not even had her a week !) - she didn't want to get off either - was slightly scared she was going to hump my back at one point.....that would have been disturbing :blink:
So....what are we going to do when they both finally roost inside....will we all need a new soap to follow? :D
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Had a count up this morning and I have 7 tree dwellers at the moment plus one broody who is sat on eggs on the side of the beck. Should these hatch this will be the second lot hatched in the open by my hens and the first lot are some of those that live in the trees. The majority of my tree dwellers are araucanas. The silkie cross that is sat on the eggs lived outside throughout all that snow - she moved from the russet apple tree into the laurels with the blackbirds when the tree lost it's leaves. She does know about the coops and has laid eggs in them but prefers life under the stars :)
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Wow, hatching in the open.....impressive stuff !
Well i've missed a few episodes recently, but actually not a lot has changed !
One of them (the new layer) happily goes to the coop for bed now, but the other still refuses, luckily we get to her before she gets to the tree. I think she might settle in the coop once she starts laying.....that's the hope :)
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I currently have 9 tree roosters ::)
5 pullets which snuggle up together on one side of the tree, a cockerel which stays a little apart from them, and my three banty dottes sleep snuggled up on the other side of the tree.
My remaining pullets and hens are now all sleeping together in the big coop, which means I have two empty coops at the moment!
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room for more chickens then Casey :D
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Next spring I'm getting a mix of cochins, brahamas and Faverolles for floofiness, and I'm setting up breeding pens for laced wyandotte bantams :tongue2:
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Got back from taking wee Evie home last night and the chickens had taken themselves in except for 2. One was perched on the small run door the other was fast asleep in the apple tree ::)
So much for the nice clean coop with new perches, fruit net cover and new perches in the big run :nowink:
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Next spring I'm getting a mix of cochins, brahamas and Faverolles for floofiness, and I'm setting up breeding pens for laced wyandotte bantams :tongue2:
lucky you - I wouldn't mind some black cochins - shame Dorinda lives a bit too far away :)
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Ladies and Gentlemen.....
We have a winner in this gruelling battle of minds !
Meeeeeeeeee
They still tease by sitting on top of the coop and looking towards the tree......but for two nights running now they have gone inside the coop of their own accord ! Only took 11 days to get the message it is safer there....
RESULT :D
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Excellent :D :D :D
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It's interesting to read that one member has mostly Aracanas up a tree. Some years ago I hatched 17 Aracana chicks. Only one turned out to be a hen but that's a different story. 7 of them decided to roost in trees and spent a whole winter out, fortunately they were all boys. They seemed to fair well but once the days started to lengthen and they came down with dawn...yes Mr. Fox had them all, saved me a job!
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Went to put my 2 new girls to bed last evening, a little later than usual...no sign of them
Remembered this thread, so looked in the trees and lo and behold...found them...the sods
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w338/tiptopchickendon/01DSC_0531.jpg)
(http://i521.photobucket.com/albums/w338/tiptopchickendon/01DSC_0532.jpg)
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Clever chooks :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Araucanas do seem to be a lot closer to the jungle fowl than most other birds so this may be why they like to roost in trees still :)