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Jack
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 Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:13 am Post subject: Question about free range chickens |
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We have about 10 free range chickens around our house in the country.
Our chickens are more of a hobby but we do enjoy having them supply us
with eggs and we really enjoy seeing them run around the yard. There
is only one problem with letting them run loose. They hop up on our
front porch and on our back deck and poop. They even jump up on the
back of the porch chairs. How can we stop them from this? I have a
squirt bottle of water at both the front and back decks and, when we
see them, we squirt the daylights out of them . Of course they don>t
like the water and make a mad rush to get off. However, they never
seem to learn and keep doing this. I have thought of getting more
aggressive and peppering their behinds with a bb gun but my wife
thinks it will hurt them and won>t let me do it . Also, I have
thought of putting amonia of cheyenne pepper in the water, but, here
again, my wife thinks I will hurt them. What can we do to stop this
behavior? |
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A _L_ P
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:13 am Post subject: Re: Question about free range chickens |
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Jack wrote:
[quote]We have about 10 free range chickens around our house in the country.
Our chickens are more of a hobby but we do enjoy having them supply us
with eggs and we really enjoy seeing them run around the yard. There
is only one problem with letting them run loose. They hop up on our
front porch and on our back deck and poop. They even jump up on the
back of the porch chairs. How can we stop them from this? I have a
squirt bottle of water at both the front and back decks and, when we
see them, we squirt the daylights out of them . Of course they don>t
like the water and make a mad rush to get off. However, they never
seem to learn and keep doing this. I have thought of getting more
aggressive and peppering their behinds with a bb gun but my wife
thinks it will hurt them and won>t let me do it . Also, I have
thought of putting amonia of cheyenne pepper in the water, but, here
again, my wife thinks I will hurt them. What can we do to stop this
behavior?
[/quote]
You can>t. Look at it from the chickens' point of view. 90% of the
time *at least* they can go on your porch and deck and chairs and there
is no human to chase them away. People buy lottery tickets with
infinitely worse odds of success. Once in a blue moon a human comes
along and makes a fuss, but hey, thinks the chicken, we all make a fuss
occasionally, look at Fluffybum, she makes a terrible fuss if anyone
tries to go into the nest box when she>s there but she gets over it.
Put netting around your deck or around your chickens. Shooting them is
plain dumb. It WILL hurt and it won>t teach them. Poisons and eye or
skin irritants are plain ugly, are you taking Guantanamo Bay as your
role model? Torture is SO not right for any decent human being to
inflict on another creature.
Kill them cleanly or look after them well, those are the two choices.
Poop is a small price for the pleasure most of us get from our chickens
and other critters, including baby children.
Live with the poop or make fences.
A L P |
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Sally Thompson
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:36 am Post subject: Re: Question about free range chickens |
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On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 23:13:41 +0100, A _L_ P wrote
(in article <48EBDF15.9050808@xnet.co.nz>):
[quote]Jack wrote:
We have about 10 free range chickens around our house in the country.
Our chickens are more of a hobby but we do enjoy having them supply us
with eggs and we really enjoy seeing them run around the yard. There
is only one problem with letting them run loose. They hop up on our
front porch and on our back deck and poop. They even jump up on the
back of the porch chairs. How can we stop them from this? I have a
squirt bottle of water at both the front and back decks and, when we
see them, we squirt the daylights out of them . Of course they don>t
like the water and make a mad rush to get off. However, they never
seem to learn and keep doing this. I have thought of getting more
aggressive and peppering their behinds with a bb gun but my wife
thinks it will hurt them and won>t let me do it . Also, I have
thought of putting amonia of cheyenne pepper in the water, but, here
again, my wife thinks I will hurt them. What can we do to stop this
behavior?
You can>t. Look at it from the chickens' point of view. 90% of the
time *at least* they can go on your porch and deck and chairs and there
is no human to chase them away. People buy lottery tickets with
infinitely worse odds of success. Once in a blue moon a human comes
along and makes a fuss, but hey, thinks the chicken, we all make a fuss
occasionally, look at Fluffybum, she makes a terrible fuss if anyone
tries to go into the nest box when she>s there but she gets over it.
Put netting around your deck or around your chickens. Shooting them is
plain dumb. It WILL hurt and it won>t teach them. Poisons and eye or
skin irritants are plain ugly, are you taking Guantanamo Bay as your
role model? Torture is SO not right for any decent human being to
inflict on another creature.
Kill them cleanly or look after them well, those are the two choices.
Poop is a small price for the pleasure most of us get from our chickens
and other critters, including baby children.
Live with the poop or make fences.
[/quote]
I>m not one normally to make "me too" responses, but I just wanted to say I
couldn>t agree with you more, A L P. If you want chickens just for the eggs,
leave them in a run. If you want them to part of your lives, and part of
your garden, live with it. Our four (two of whom do /big/ poops) have taken
to hanging around the top picnic table, very often one on each chair and one
on the table. Sure, we>ll have to scrub it before we use it, but the hen
party picture which I took is well worth it.
I love to see my hens around the garden, and when I have to leave them shut
in their run if we are out for a significant length of time, I can>t wait to
rush to let them out when we return. They give us endless amusement, and I
don>t expect them to be house-trained.
I did rather wonder if the OP was a deliberate flame, it seemed so
unreasonable.
Sorry, rant over!
--
Sally in Shropshire, UK |
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Jill
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:05 pm Post subject: Re: Question about free range chickens |
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Sally Thompson wrote:
[quote]Live with the poop or make fences.
I>m not one normally to make "me too" responses, but I just wanted to
say I couldn>t agree with you more, A L P. If you want chickens just
for the eggs, leave them in a run.
[/quote]
except many types of birds cannot cope with being enclosed ;)
The compromise is to use something like electric netting to create a more
controlled area, away from the house, but still giving the birds lots of
space.
I do not like hens enclosed permanently in small runs outside, its giving
them lots of stimulation of what is around them, but no gratification - mega
frustration. Its worse than being inside, where at least the stimulation
level is lower. Short periods of time, is fine.
The other option, if the area is big enough is to locate their house further
away from the human house, that way the human house is not so accesible to
them.
But if not then its a decorative railing or fence for your deck, as ALP
suggests.
--
regards
Jill Bowis
Domestic Poultry and Waterfowl Solutions
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine Nursery
Seasonal Farm Food
http://www.kintaline.co.uk |
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