Summers end is here and the days are getting shorter. The good news for me will be the girls putting themselves to bed instead of me putting them to bed. The automatic coop door is closing earlier each day. As well as getting darker earlier, it’s much cooler in the evenings now. This seems to be the trigger for the girls.
For the last few evenings Amber has been going in the coop to settle. The first evening this happened, I went up at dusk and Amber was already in the coop. Bluebell was on my little chair, Honey on the store cabinet and Pepper and Dotty on the high perch.
I put Honey in the coop then lifted down Pepper and Dotty and put them in the coop. By this time Bluebell had jumped down from the little chair to the coop roof. This made it easy to put her in the coop. Things are changing!
Last night I was still out with them before dusk. Pepper, Dotty and Bluebell went to the high perch and Honey to the store cabinet. Amber was still out in the garden area wandering around. She then came up to the patio area and had a last top up at the food dish. She then nonchalantly wandered over to the coop and went in.
I put the other girls in just as the door was closing and they were all in by quarter to nine.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
There are plusses and minuses ..I love the fact that I can have an early night as I often wait for them to settle and I am an early to bed person .The down side of course is when they are shut up for so long …15 hours sometimes seems such a long time to me .
I agree. The plus, with mine, is that they put themselves to bed. I also think the down side is that they have such short days and also a lot more poop in the coop!
I don’t understand all this fuss; chicken know best and if they are cold or it’s a rainy evening they will go naturally inside otherwise they will stay out to start foraging very early in the morning . Been cooped up for so many hours in a small space they may start to have respiratory problem,beeing bored and leed to fether pulling and you are just creating more work for yourself ! Chicken know what is best for them and we need to accept that even if we consider them as pets as I do they are infact barn animals .
Ciao from Roma Italy
I have an automatic coop door opener that works by a sensor to light so in summer my chickens are out at first light sometimes before five in the morning. This means that being shut in is not an issue as they are only inside during the hours of darkness. I like them in for their own safety as we have foxes and although we have made our enclosure as predator proof as possible, I feel it best not to have a fox able to see the chickens and therefore more determined to try to get in. It is not a fuss for me as lifting them down and putting them in is quick and easy and gives me a chance to handle them making it easier to handle them if I ever need to address any problems that may arise. They may be farm animals but my girls are firmly my beloved pets and are treated to the best care I can possibly give them.
Do they have foxes in Italy? If they did they might realise what it is like to have your whole flock ripped apart and left to die . The foxes don’t even want the chickens to feed their young it is just the “pleasure” of the kill. I agree that they are farm or forest animals but not barn animals by nature .
If I had a large small holding with an orchard and maybe a flock of about 200 it might be different as I maybe would not miss a few but when you only have 3 or 4 and the whole lot is wiped out a different story .
I know of a few people that don’t care for their animals and who’s animals live in squallar and they don’t care as long as they have eggs every day or a chicken for Sunday dinner but I am sure Carol is not like that and my chickens are treated like hers and if they were not I would not deserve to keep them .
I agree that a farm or smallholding is a totally different thing to our few back garden chickens and beloved pets. Keeping them safe is my priority and it isn’t work to me it’s a pleasure. I know that Jackie and myself will do anything we need to, to keep our girls safe and happy. I don’t know if Italy has foxes either. I know each country has a different set of predators to worry about.