[spencekelliem]

Hello All!

Just after a bit of advice really... i picked up 3 ex batts at the weekend and having fenced off a section of the garden and converted an old shed for them to live in, i thought the setup we had would be ideal and safe.

however, i let them out on sunday evening for a wander around the garden and when i went to put them to bed (fully expecting to have to chase them around the garden to get them to go in) i found that they had manged to get up onto a 6/7 foot fence that separates our garden from next doors. They had to get over a 5ft fence to manage this....

Ihavent let them out today for fear of them escaping over to next door whilst im not looking.

Do you think that clipping their wings will help this?

Also, should i avoid letting them out until they are happy to come to me?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

[cathangirl]

Hello spencek and welcome to hen keeping.
It would be a good idea to train your girls to come to you... not difficult once they realise your presence means food!  I trained mine by using a bright red Christmas pudding basin for their pre-bedtime corn.  Now, they come every time I go to the back door; they don't miss a move or a sound!
Yes, clip a wing on each of your girls, but only one wing per bird........you want them to be unbalanced for flying.  Just snip about 2 inches off the large (primary) feathers.  That will last until they moult.  They may be too heavy to fly after their moult, but if they still can after their feathers grow back, then they will need clipping again then.
Enjoy,
cathangirl

[spencekelliem]

Thanks!

We looked like such wallys wandering around the garden trying to get them to come down off the fence...

i have heard that feeding them live meal worms is a good idea when they first go out on the grass etc - is this something i should be doing?

Thanks

[cathangirl]

I never did.  The grandchildren often do though.
Ours are in a move-able fenced area when free ranging, because we have badgers, foxes and pesky squirrels around us. 
Greens are good for a treat.  I always wash shop bought ones before hanging up in their run.
cathangirl

[joyfull]

The meal worms can be dried as well as live. If you go out with the treats and can't see them either bang their bowl or have a call that they recognise as meaning food - I go out calling "here tucky tucky tuck tuck"  . Yes I know I may look and sound like a wally but I am past the age of caring and have no neighbours  and my chooks don't care as all they want is to leg me over and get their food as quickly as possible.

[craig1981]

i suggest putting a simple netting roof over the fenced off area aswell as maybe wing clipping . We used the stuff that is used to cover ponds to protect from herons . Enough to cover our 12ft by 10 ft area cost less than £10 . It also keeps other birds out and stopped the problem we had with cats using our mud patch as a litter tray . very simple but affective.