When to move to coop????

My1stChickens said:

Update.
yes, they all lived through the night.  I'm going to like not having to drag this huge tractor twice a day.  

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No more chicks in the garage. I had one try to fly away today lol... I chased her around the yard after she flew out the front door ... It's about to storm and I'll be moving her and 5 others to their forever home today. Wanted them clean and dry.

Mine think they can fly but they are pretty spastic about it. I do keep an old blanket over top of their playpen "just in case".

Today my handyman came over and we've made a plan for the permanent coop! Ordering a load of sand.... He'll level the existing floor, then lay down a layer of wire that covers the entire floor, plus bend upwards about a foot around the edges. Then we'll add the sand on top of that wire. The bottom all the way around will be metal siding, trenched in. North wall is totally protected, South wall will be framed, and include a full size people door, but be mostly hardware cloth. East wall is existing solid wall about 4' tall, the rest will be done with stout wire panels for strength, then hex cloth inside of that for critter proofing. Similar approach for the ceiling.

The West call is currently solid, will be cutting a chicken sized door in since their big grassy run will be on the other side. I'm thinking about 20' by 65". (using part of a horse turn out area, just need one more fence line).

Love it when a plan starts coming together. I can see that one day these chickens will not be as high maintenance, once I have carefully built everything they need.

Yeah right... That's how it goes...... Until chicken math sets in and your small flock becomes the chick supplier for your whole extended family... My in-laws.... All 3 of the sister-n-laws and my own grandma want us to hatch some for them... Plus the lady from the feed store asked me to add a few (23) of her eggs into my current clutch and now I have a hen going broody.

CrazyPetunias said:

Try letting them mingle together during the day when you have time to watch them. You want to watch for excessive pecking by the bigger ones. If they get along during the day then you are probably ok to remove the brooder. Since they already are used to seeing each other, you will probably have no trouble.

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Just wanted to let you know that I did let the chickies out, had only 2 little pecking episodes and that was all. They have been living happily together for he last 3 weeks. Good lesson to learn, in the future, I will always have my brooder in the hen house so everybody can check out the new tenants. Thanks!