2 week olds - proper enviornment?

[kidcallous]

I may not be able to get babies then. I cannot afford to cover my 8x10 run with hardware cloth.. I have the inside of the run with chicken wire around the perimeter of the inside, and will be placing 2x3 welded wire along the outside of the run.. a "dove sized" bird could squeeze through or get pulled through...

I planned on guarding the roosting area with hardware cloth, but at most that would be a 4x 5 foot area.... hope i can find some well mannered 8 week olds ! ha ha ha

 

[Beekercat]

I'm in Gainesville and I just saw this listing on our Craigslist:

http://gainesville.craigslist.org/grd/1756094691.html

Maybe there's some older chicks there, although Lake City is kinda northern Florida.

My girls have been in the coop/run since they were 4-5 weeks old and I have 2x3 fencing everywhere, including the roof but I did use hardware cloth as a reinforcement for the bottom part (36" high) just so nothing could grab them. They've been fine for the last month and it was so nice not havng their dust in the house for a minute. (I just picked up 10 new babies from cpartist today, so more dust! They're going out to a pen in the coop when they're two weeks old!)

 

[kidcallous]

I might try to find some older chicks, but would ideally like to get them from the same place, where they already 'know' each other. I think there is a guy near me who sells up to 10 weeks old as well, but he doesnt have a phone number on his craigslist ad!! ALWAYS put a phone number!!

 

[1 Florida chick]

I'm guessing your run does not have an enclosed coop in it? Could you possibly create the "cage" for the roost area in hardware cloth to sit on the ground inside the run and then refashion it later as a roost area as they get older? Definately chicken wire is too big for the young chicks. They do sell some cheaper hardware cloth at The Home Depot compared to Tractor supply but the gauge is not as heavy. You wouldn't need heavy gauge since you've got the chicken wire. Just a thought. Do you think you could find older chicks/hens? Also, what will you do if you end up with any roos? The one bad thing if you don't plan to keep the roos is that then you won't have even aged chickens and it will make it harder to introduce more chicks at younger ages.

I hope you figure it out! You need chickens! They are so great!

 

[kidcallous]

Quote:
YIKES! My husband DEFINITELY will not let any chicks in the house, so we'll have to get them old enough to go into the run from day 1. I have the run set up like this:

8 foot by 10 foot: 6 feet high.

Far Left is the inside of the run.

C W 2
H O x
I O 3
C D W
K R I
E U R
N N E
________________Ground________
W
I
R
E
(1 foot buried)

I dont know if this makes sense or if I just spent 5 minutes to thoroughly confuse everyone. The chicken wire is attached to the wood on the inside of the run, buried 1 foot, and rising up 2 feet. the 2x3 wire is attached to the outside of the run, and the wire and fence will be connected together by thin wire, kinda weaved up together.

I did alot of work and spent alot of money doing this. I AM GETTING CHICKENS... I just have to figure out the safest way to do it. Since i'm in florida, I had planned to just to an open air run, with a roof on top - and a few nesting boxes and a roost. No proper coop because it's so hot here.

 

[1 Florida chick]

So how did it go? How many chickens do you have? Did it work out?