Our chickens were perching in the trees and on the porch rail even when the temperature went down way below zero. They are pretty tough birds.
We have a trampled path through the snow from our driveway to our door. Once in a while, in the evening, I would see something big fly past my window and be gone before I could take a good look. Just a few days ago, I got a better look. It turns out that the chickens fly a good 50 feet from the path to the pine trees. Yes, some chickens CAN fly. I suspect that it's kind of like sprinting would be to us, so they only do it when they need to. Still, they like to roost twenty or thirty feet up in the trees. The trees are often covered with snow, but they like to roost near the trunk.
By the way, the hen I saw flying was a leghorn. A few years ago, it was an americauna that took panicked flight when I was using the snow blower. I have seen pretty much all of the breeds flying up twenty or more feet to roost in a tree.
As it is now, all of our chickens are free range because no pen will hold them. We would need to get one with a covered top.
On 01/04/2014 08:55 AM, Lori wrote:
We have a trampled path through the snow from our driveway to our door. Once in a while, in the evening, I would see something big fly past my window and be gone before I could take a good look. Just a few days ago, I got a better look. It turns out that the chickens fly a good 50 feet from the path to the pine trees. Yes, some chickens CAN fly. I suspect that it's kind of like sprinting would be to us, so they only do it when they need to. Still, they like to roost twenty or thirty feet up in the trees. The trees are often covered with snow, but they like to roost near the trunk.
By the way, the hen I saw flying was a leghorn. A few years ago, it was an americauna that took panicked flight when I was using the snow blower. I have seen pretty much all of the breeds flying up twenty or more feet to roost in a tree.
As it is now, all of our chickens are free range because no pen will hold them. We would need to get one with a covered top.
On 01/04/2014 08:55 AM, Lori wrote:
It is 20 degrees and our barred rock spend the night on her perch. Her normal perching buddies went into their coop. I think she stayed out all night, when it likely was less than 20.
Last night I checked their water and I put her into the coop where I had put fresh straw. Obviously she walked back out.
We have a heat lamp on their water. So she could stand by that if she didn't want to be in the coop. Does she know what she's doing? Or should I bring her inside the house?
Lori
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