:-( Losing sleep, stressed out, maybe we SHOULDN'T be doing chickens!!! :-(

I enjoyed the first week. Now I am questioning if we are smart enough to do this whole backyard chicken thing.

The feed store sold me birds that were NOT what they were supposed to be. The water container leaks everywhere. These little 4-5 week old chicks are being super mean to each other all of a sudden.

We were going to buy a pre-fab coop but now after reading they sound like junk. We are not builders and my husband now wants us to "build" a coop this weekend.... I HAVE NO IDEA how to do that !!!!!! I can't even find any simple, basic blueprints on line.

Yep, I am a strong, intelligent woman who is now scared to death to do this chicken raising adventure.

I still don't even know what KIND of black chickens I have !!!!!!!! :-(
*venting*

Why are these little chickens being so mean to each other in ONE day !!?!?!?

Ok, take a breath. You are perfectly capable of this. What climate do you live in first of all, that will determine just how good of a coop you need. If they are not simply working out the pecking order and they are exibiting more aggression it may be because they are crowded. That happens as they grow and you are figuring out living arrangements. The waterer may not be the right kind (a nice big round base with at least a gallon resevoir) but if it is then just go get a level and stick some hay under the low side. You are right you cannot usually find coop blueprints, but you can find dog house ones that you can modify with an egg box and a secure door.

So lets start with,
How many chickens do you have?
How much room?
Do you plan on a covered run (chicken yard)
What kind of a budget are you wanting to stick within?
Do you have the tools?

Yes, overcrowding is probably the issue you're mainly dealing with. It's simple to resolve. Pick up one or two large cardboard appliance boxes, tape them together, cut pass-throughs into the common walls and you have instant chick condo!

Get some cheese cloth and stretch it over the top and you have netting to contain them. Look at this is you wish to know how to hang a chick water bottle. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/957712/how-to-hang-a-chick-water-bottle

And if your climate permits it, a hoop coop is quick and easy to put up in one day. Even if you live in a place with harsh winters, plenty of straw inside makes a hoop coop winter-friendly.

I am in Northern California (Mendocino county) - climate is beautiful, no hard seasons at all. 75' these days, never colder than 55' in the winter but does get to 100' mid summer.
We do have a place in our back yard, also an option to move the coop under a patio overhang if the elements get extreme.

We have 4 chicks in 2 large boxes I put together, like an enormous fridge box, it is exactly 48 X 24 X 24 - but I like the partition idea, that might help. We have a very light weight child gate on the top of the box to prevent breaks INS by the dogs ;-)

Dog houses blueprints... YES, that might be what we need. Has anyone bought COOPS FOR DUMMIES? Any good?

We have every tool known to mankind (husband is a fireman that always wanted to build things so has bought tools he has NO idea what they are used for!!!) *laughing now, I MUST sound frazzled* Equipment to build won't be an issue.
Budget.... I am HOPING less than $500 -

OK, I took that deep breath, I AM more calm. Sorrrrrry, and thanks for the help and advise. How about these black chicks, are they Australorps !?!!?!?




Also, during the day I carry them all out to this dog crate and sit with them in the sun for about an hour and watch them pick at things on the ground. Also give them some veggie snacks. Then I carry them all back in to their cardboard condo.

It's the coop thing that is worrying me.. and the pecking at each other this morning. "Order" would make sense I guess. I peck at my husband to establish my place in our home (LOL) ;-)

It's the coop thing that is worrying me.. and the pecking at each other this morning. "Order" would make sense I guess. I peck at my husband to establish my place in our home (LOL) ;-)

HA! that is how our house works too. Well there is not a better introductory project than this!. Look at coops and then look for blueprinted structures to use that you can incorporate your choices. Beware, we did find a coop design online, and it seemed to my untrained eye it was great, then the very experienced builder husband said that he still had to tweak and modify because it was not measured accurately nor did it have complete explanations so be prepared to modify on the fly. Depending on your room and skills and such you can also look on craigslist for a childs playhouse and just modify it and cover the windows with screen. Remember that nightime temps come into play too. With the coop you need roosts, you need to be able to access all of it to sweep it out and be able to grab an elusive chicken and get any eggs that get laid in strange corners. The coop needs to be predator (your dogs and neighbors pets included) proof so hardware cloth (not poultry netting) over each opening, it needs lots of ventilation especially on those hot days. It needs room for the birds to get to and descend from the roosts and a spot that is quiet and secluded to lay eggs. An enclosed and covered run that you can access every part of easily that has an apron of hardware cloth laid along the ground to prevent digging is really necessary for peace of mind.
We built ours for under $500 and it is 4x8 with 16' of roosts and those and the poop board are high enough that the girls can use all the floor space in bad weather and it has 2 egg boxes. Ours is all wood with a man door and 2 pop doors and a cutout window with hardware cloth cover and full asphalt roof. You can for sure make a simple coop for under that amount that is way better than those store bought coops.

Hi there. If you want a good coop u can buy an Amish one. They have a very good chicken coops. I did mine with my husband and it wasn't that hard. We even used all our scrap wood and plywood whatever we had. It's good project but u have to know what u doing. If u going to build it yourself pick one that is simple. And make a pretty big run for them too. Good luck to you!

Believe me I had a major freak out!!! And even posted it lol. You aren't alone in the freak outs. Once I got the coop liveable (still needs work) and moved them out of my house its so much better!!!

I get it! I went through that phase too. We bought 12 chicks, 1 died, I got 5 more chicks. I had them all in their makeshift brooder - and was constantly wiping butts and cleaning poop water.. ARGH!!!! Then, slowly, I learned my mistakes. Divided my flock into 2 groups with 2 makeshift brooders. Turned in the heat lamps for eco brooders. Elevated the water so no more nasty poop water cleanings. The pasty butts started to clear up by week 2.

THEN, it was time to breath and enjoy bonding time with the chicks. It wasn't until week 3-4 that they started to even realize I was there and wanted to bond back (or at least be curious about me).

THEN, it was coop/pen building time!!! I'm an inexperienced NON builder female and was determined. Now that they were growing I HAD to do it and what a great experience it was!

I drew up rudimentary plans. Went to Home Depot and bought my stuff with some cordless Ryobi stuff (we already had a circular saw).
Just a bunch of framing covered with hardware cloth to start. I literally looked on the internet on how to do framing and went from there.
After a few weeks, the pen was done and I couldn't wait any longer to put the big babies in it - and so out they went!
Then I had to quickly put a makeshift roost in it - but fixed it the right way the next day.
I still have some coop mods to do but will do it this week

The girls love it and I'm proud that I was able to just do it and learn!

Just stick with it and you'll be in love with the idea again.

Welcome to raising chickens! It's a trial and error hobby, so totally normal that you feel as you do. I don't have any building skills, but I found a large, used, chain link, cheap dog run on Craigslist that I use as a run. I bought a few pieces of corrugated roofing to cover it (you can drill holes and use wires to connect to the run). This keeps out the predators for the most part, as well as rain and direct sunlight (but allows ventilation). If you're set up like this, you can put something temporary inside to shelter the chicks until you're ready to buy or make a coop with nesting boxes.

We recently got ten baby chicks and having them in the house drove me crazy (the mess!) The smallest one was obsessed with pecking at the eyes of the others and it really bothered me. Nothing would get it to stop. I moved them outside a bit earlier than I would (they are in a small, predator-proof coop inside the dog run) and the pecking obsession seems to have stopped. It wasn't mean, it was probably just reacting to overcrowding and boredom.

Good luck and keep us updated!