How long can I keep my chicks in the coop?

[Suzilla Bean]

My six week old chicks have been moved from the brooder and into the coop, but have not been out in the yard. Will they be adversely affected if I keep them cooped up for 2 months?

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock (a few months late)! We are glad you joined us!

I guess in order to answer your question, we may need a little more information, such as:

~ How big is your coop? How is it set up?
~ How many chicks are we talking about?
~ Are they a breed that handles confinement well?
~ Will they be confined with birds of a different age than themselves?
~ What is the purpose of confining them to the coop for 2 more months?

 

[Suzilla Bean]

Q. 1 The coop is 12 sq.ft. Two nesting boxes.
Q.2 RIR chicks
Q. 3 I'm not sure if they will handle confinement well.
Q.4 The chicks are the same age. 6 weeks old.
Q.5 The run isn't complete yet. It is taking longer than estimated to finish, specifically the electric/automated coop door. Based on our rate of progress, the coop won't be finished for another few weeks. (Construction is limited to weekends). Additionally we will be going out of town by the time the manual elements are complete. That brings us to Sept 21-which would the earliest I can let them out.

 

[trailrider330]

Given the size of your coop and the number of chicks you have, along with the fact that RIR typically bear confinement well, I think it is fine to confine them to the coop until the run is complete, provided the coop has adequate ventilation. If you want, you could also allow them some supervised free range time while you work on the run (unless you think they will be under foot). Just don't try this option until they have been coop trained (7-10 days in the coop so they know where home is.)

 

[Suzilla Bean]

Thank you for your advice. It is very appreciated.

 

[Blooie]

The chicks out in their temporary pen while the run is being built behind them.


As an alternative you could pick up a roll of inexpensive plastic mesh fencing and just using that and some plastic stakes set them up a temporary pen. You can move it from place to place, make it as small or as large as you want, and if I've learned anything in my chicken life it's that there will always be time you'll wish you had just a little more fencing on hand for one reason or another. Gosh, I've used it to protect an area with new plants coming up, a play area for our granddaughter so she could see the chickens running around but not get too close, and even to herd them if I need to. You could also look on Craig's list for a used dog x-pen, which are usually pretty inexpensive. Granted, you could leave them in the coop that long, but remember that chickens don't like change - it spooks them. So the longer they are confined to their coop, the harder it's going to be to get them interested in leaving it. Then your next post will be "How do I get my chickens to go outside?"

We just had an old dog x-pen, a collapsible wire pen that I used to use at dog shows, and we set it up next to the door of the coop so they could go in and out while we worked on their run. If we needed it moved out of the way, we just moved it, even with the chickens inside. Ken took one end and I took the other and we just walked it along to where we wanted. The chicks were out our way while we worked on their run, they got to used to the outdoors, and they weren't on the same piece of ground every time. When the run was finally finished, they were quite accustomed to going outside during the day and heading back to their coop when the sun was setting so we had no transition time for them.

 

[donrae]

How many chicks? 12 square feet isn't much space at all.

I'd rig a temp run during the day, they need to get out and spread their wings and get some fresh air. The auto door is nice, but most schedules can work around it to some degree. The chicks don't have to be out all day long.

 

[Suzilla Bean]

I've been letting the girls out 3xs a day, for 30 minutes, under supervision. We don't have many predators but our large trees house many crows, squirrels and an assortment of small birds, but we do have raccoons. Perhaps I'm a little over-protective. We just finished the walls of the run and are planning to install in temporary blue tarp roof. The permanent roof will be installed this weekend. The heat wave was a motivating factor for the major push to complete the run. As to the pop door, I've read that some people leave it open all of the time, if their run is secure. I'm contemplating this--once the permanent roof has been installed.