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

[Parker707]

I feel TONS better. This rush of having to have a coop this weekend is solved, since neither my husband or I have EVER built anything, doing it in the next 5 days seems impossible... (he is a firefighter and is only home for 2 days this time of year) Soooo we decided on a PreFab coop "for now" - that gives us a few weeks to a month to take our time, build what we want and get help from friends who aren't "busy this weekend" LOL.

The little random Rooster went to a good home today and the newest chick is the same age as the other 3. Back to 4 girls again I gave them "treats" (veggies and a little cheese) and that went crazy !! It was so fun to watch them. Like kids in a candy store.

I hope this coop works out for the next few months, it should.... *ah, enjoying he fuzz butts again*

Thank you everyone !!!!! This should be backyardchickens/.therapy, dot com LOL

 

[snow5164]

Having almost finished building our coop I can pass on a sketch that we found helpful.
Also I would recommend chickens for dummies I like how they give you the important points in short easy to understand points.

 

[Blooie]

@azygous - think this might be good time to introduce more folks to the "no stress, just fun" way to raise chicks?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

As for water, nothing is more annoying than that constant water changing because of poop and pine shavings! So get thee down to your nearest Tractor Supply and invest in a package of nipple waterers. There they only sell the vertical ones, and they tend to drip a little bit, but it's a good interim step until you can order some horizontal ones from eBay or Amazon. (I think Amazon has them - I thought someone said they did) You'll need a plastic container of some kind, a drill, and the nipples. The waterer will look like this when you're done if you use a bucket:

The chicks in the back are drinking from vertical nipples.


And here they are having adapted quite well to the horizontal nipples in the run.

After you have the water figured out, it's time for a coop of some kind. Temporary works, I promise! Get three cattle panels, 6 steel fence posts, and some chicken wire and hardware cloth. Drive the fence posts into the ground 3 per side, and arch the cattle panels between them. Using just wire, wire the panel to the posts. You now have a 2 panel wide hoop with two open ends. Cover the panels with chicken wire. Then with your hardware cloth, run it about 2 feet up the sides, again zip tie it to the cattle panel right through the chicken wire. You're making a predator-resistant sandwich here. Fold the other 2 feet (or one foot, if you got 3' wide HW cloth) outward to form an apron so critters can't dig under it and pin it to the ground with landscape fabric staples. Now you just have to close up the ends and you can do that with either plywood or, like we did, some wire welded fence. Add a tarp on one end to cover it, and you have temporary but safe enclosure while you build your coop.

Doing this gives you a good start on a solid and reliable run as well. We love ours, it was cheap to build, it looks nice, it's tall enough to stand in to work, it has withstood snowstorms and 60+mph winds, and it's expandable! (You can see our coop build by clicking on "My Coop" under my avatar. It shows the cattle panel run.)

And relax - they're chickens. If another chicken can raise these little boogers to adult-hood, then so can we!

 

[feather13]

This is the waterer we have and I LOVE it (no more mess and doesn't need to be refilled as often): Chicken Waterer--2 Gallon Dual Nipple System with Lid http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EMDEOLC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

 

[Parker707]

I definitely have a new appreciation for chickens !!!!! ;-)

 

[Allie3513]

Don't stress. It will get easier with experience. Promise!

I love my nipple water bucket we have in the big coop. I didn't know they made horizontal ones for chicks, which is perfect for the brooder. (Learn something new every day!)

One reason your chicks have suddenly started picking on each other, is age, boredom, ect. Its actually perfectly normal. They peck at everything at that age. I will be out working and hear "dong, dong" (my brooder is a metal water trough) Who knows what they are even pecking at!
Just make sure they are pecking eyes or causing any bleeding. Those would be the ones to separate.

We also have a large dog kennel (purchased at feed store) for our fence with chicken wire around the base, and my husband built my coop from sheets of tin, 2X4's and posts. Slapped some paint on it, put in some nesting boxes and a roost, and we called it good. Chickens don't need anything fancy. While I am totally jealous of the fabulous ones you see on here.. It is more for us than the chickens.

Now with that all said, if you do not plan on getting anymore chickens, why don't you just invest in a chicken tractor. You will spend less that $500 and will have the benefit of it being mobile!

Good luck! Hope things get better.

 

[Allie3513]

I forgot to mention that if you are on Pintrest, there are plans for coops on there.