The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: docsal on March 31, 2020, 01:52:12 pm
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I have 3 Eglu Cubes (recommended for 8-10 birds each), each with their own small run. The birds are out free ranging during the day, so I only make use of the runs eg if we are away overnight.
I have 23 hens and a cockerel. When we had a higher cock/hen ratio, the birds spaced themselves out pretty sensibly to roost. Lately, they all seem to want to go in with the cockerel such that I am having to 'redistribute' them every night and it's driving me mad. I tried keeping 8 in each for 2-3 days twice to see if they would start viewing the different coops as their own. No effect..... in fact there were 21 birds crammed in on top of each other last night!!
Any suggestions to keep the birds healthy and me sane?
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Chickens have good spacial awareness, so if the coops are close together they all look like their own. I can only suggest moving them as far apart as possible and keeping all in their runs fora few days. Another possibility is to create 3 free- ranging enclosures using netting- they sell non-electrified netting here which we use, or you could get Omlet nets, which are good as we have one.
Worth checking for red mite in the coops, as that may also be a reason for deserting them.