[johnmac]

Picked up my 6 ex-bats near Linlithgow today. Put them in my fully enclosed run which is 4m x 4m, netted with chicken wire to 1m then fully enclosed up sides an over the top with 4" netting so I can stand in it.

Settled in fine with my other three, no hysterics!

Stupidly went out for dinner, returning at nine to find five of them missing! A quick scout around in the dark found one on the window sill, one in the greenhouse two in the log shed and one in the nest box... Number six still missing?!? In the past they've only ever been sitting outside, but not this latest batch!! Escape artists managed to fly out the run through the netting.

I'm hoping number six will appear once the sun comes up?!?

Here's hoping!

[doganjo]

If they can get out a fox can get in - I reckon chickens are just about as wily as a fox.  They can find spaces that you can't see yourself!  Hope No 6 appears tomorrow!

[Roxy]

Hopefully she is just hiding somewhere.  Usually, our ex bats, we have difficulty getting them out of the shed or pen, so no danger of them running away!!
I have known them bed down in hanging baskets, flower pots even ......!!

[johnmac]

I have some one inch netting sitting in a big sack on the farm which I came across last week... I think ill be spending tomorrow putting that over the four inch netting to keep the blighters in... And the predators out!!

Come in
Number six
Your time
Is up!

[SallyintNorth]

Come in
Number six
Your time
Is up!

I am not a number I am a free hen! 

(Well someone had to do it)   

[johnmac]

Glad to report that I found 'Steve McQueen' in the log pile this morning and returned her to Stalag 13 with the other ladies! ;-)

[doganjo]

My Light Sussex hens jump the four foot fence and sometimes land in or close to the dogs jaws!  If they are lucky it's  Brittany and I can pop them back over, but a couple of days ago the mother hen jumped out and big Hester just happened to catch her by her neck, so there's just her two daughters left now - and guess what - I just saw one of them jumping out again.   If I see them I can get them in before letting the dogs out.  The ex batts never try.
I have pig/sheep wire round the duck pen and I know they can get through it but they never try

[little blue]

little b*gger!  glad she has been returned safely.. 

[Sudanpan]

When we picked up our ex-batts (Sept 09) we were advised to out them straight in the coop with door shut to let them settle overnight, then let them out the next day. We then kept them in the run for a couple of weeks before letting them go free range. That seemed to work quite well. We have one who does like to make a statement about being completely free range (their daytime area is about 15m x 20m) and she pops through the 4 inch netting with alacrity 
Tish

[NormandyMary]

So glad that No 6 was found safe and sound. I now know from experience, that when I get new girlies I put them straight into their house to settle and wait for them to come out on their own. That way, they learn that at bed time, that's where they have to go. Well.....that's the theory anyway!

[helskitchen]

One of ours is really cheeky and gets out, but then puts herself back in as well!  We watched her one day, she jumped onto the egg collecting box, then to the coop door, then the coop roof, then a tree branch, then the fence post and over she went.  Then when she had a wander she jumped straight back in the same way, using plant pots and veggie planters to get onto the fence post.  We had to move it all around, but every now and again she works out another way to get out.  She is the only one out of 26 that is an escape expert!