Will chickens walk the plank?

[Intheshed]

Hello, I was on here previously, but forgot my login details, one of the less pleasant things about retirement, you get so relaxed, and laid back, you forget things!

I have had to re-register, thanks for your help, Richard!

I'm planning on having my first chickens next Spring, four ex batts possibly, unless anyone comes up with any other birds, that need a home.

They will have a wired off area in a corner of my workshop, at the end of the garden, (you know my workshop, it's the thing that is cleverly disguised to look like a large shed)

The run, which will be twelve feet by four feet, will have to be built about six feet from the shed, and connected to it by a plank, or walkway, with a solid wood bottom, with top and sides of wire mesh.

Within that six feet, it will slope from about fifteen inches high, where it exits the shed, to enter the run at ground level.

Will chickens walk through, what is, in effect, a long tube?

John in Staffordshire

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi, I bet if there was treats at the end they would walk through , jump hoops and an assualt course.They are pretty clever at working out routes and places of interest . Bet you have trouble getting them out of the tunnel.
Best of luck and look forward to hearing how you get on. Good on you for getting Bats . They can be a lot of fun .
Bob

[Intheshed]

Thanks for that!

I suppose that it's a case of training them to do What I need them to do.

Most creatures, us included, will do a lot for food, I'll have to wait and see, (or formulate a plan B)!

John

[Richard]

The long 'tunnel' sounds right up my street, very quirky !!
I think they'll use it well.

Like the secondary use for the Man Cave as well !!

Good luck, you know where we are for any help.....or tips from yourself of course.

Richard

[Mo]

I'm sure they'll use it from the shed to the run. How tall will it be if you need to encourage them to go back to the shed?

[ChickenCarol]

Sounds really interesting. I am sure they will soon get used to it and will find their way in and out with no trouble. Like others have said, I will be interested to hear of your progress.

[HilierWard]

As Bob says, they will do pretty much anything for treats!

Im going to enter a couple of mine for chicken racing next year - they hurtle after me when I have the treat box in hand!

[KathJ]

As previously said my girls will go anywhere with a little mealworm ecouragement too. We took a pane of glass out of our greenhouse a couple of years ago as it's right next to the chicken run and my hubbie boarded it up with a little tunnel like opening for them to go through during the winter months. It took a bit of training but they went straight through after the mealworms. We block it up in the summer and the older ones remember each time we open it again. Clever little girls

[Intheshed]

Thanks for all the help and encouragement.

Mo, I hadn't given the height of the tunnel much thought yet, it won't be built for another two or three months, but having thought about it, thanks to you asking, I can build it pretty much as high as I want, I suppose.

The run will be high enough for me to stand in, (five foot seven and a half, plus cloth cap/woolly hat at the top end, and wellington boot heels at the bottom end)!

So I can build the tunnel as high as the coop, the main limiting factor is the the width, it has to be squeezed in between a water butt and a fence - about two feet maximum, which, means it will be more of a rather lofty corridor, perhaps?

John

[KarenE]

I think the main thing John is that you can get in to clean it. They may spend nano-seconds in it, and that is more than long enough for piles of poop to appear!

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi angle it and hose pipe it out may help (gravity)
Bob

[Mo]

Not only cleaning. If you need to catch a hen and there's somewhere you can't reach or have to crawl into.....you know where they'll go.

[Intheshed]

Plan "B" has been formulated whilst in "Wetherspoons" today!

The water butt will be moved to the outer end of the run, thus allowing the full four foot width of the run to be against the sh, sorry, workshop.

The run will need to be two feet shorter at that end, to accomodate the water butt, but the six feet at the inboard end, will now be the same width as the rest of of the run.

Instead of being twelve feet by four feet, it will be sixteen feet by four feet, which should be enough space for four birds, I think.

I'll need to get some extra downspout, and it will be routed at high'ish level along the back of the run, (outside of it), and then discharge to the water butt.

John

[ChickenCarol]

Sounds like a good plan. I found that not only the plans but the run itself evolved over time. Keep us posted.