Am I on track?

[aart]

Thanks for all the tips! Let me see if I understand everyone. They are 10 days old and by 21 days (3weeks) the will be able to jump/fly high enough to get over the 3 foot fence?

The shear number of chicks mean that the will outgrow my current pool very quickly and I need to either expand or move them to the coop early? Now I will be running electricity out there and can put the heat lamps in there. Should I do 1 or put both out there. My coop is 36” x 161” with 4 levels of perches and 6 nesting boxes.

Many thanks for the help.

By one week they may be able to jump up on edge of pool and go thru the fencing you have there(which looks like 2x4 holes?).

A 3x13' coop is probably going to be tight for 23 birds once they are 4-6 months old.
Feeders and waterers are going to take up some space too.
A 3' width is limiting in how the birds can use multi levels in a coop,
they need room to fly/jump down without crashing into something.
Might depend on coop and run, pics would help.
Might also depend on if all those chicks are females, or some are males that will be leaving the flock.

Both lights may be needed. Usually we warn of fire danger with heat lamps in coop, but those are the safest of heat lamps. Any electrical/wiring can be dangerous tho.
Put them at one end of coop with their heat ranges overlapping, put a thermometer or two on the floor of coop to gauge where those heat ranges are.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Let me see if I understand everyone. They are 10 days old and by 21 days (3weeks) the will be able to jump/fly high enough to get over the 3 foot fence?

They will physically be capable of flying over the 3' high fence. Whether they actually will or not depends on how badly they want to. I keep my adult chickens inside 4' high electric netting. Every day they fly up to a 5' high roost with no problems and could easily go higher if they had a need, yet they do not fly over that 4' high netting. Conditions are such inside that they have no reason t leave. Occasionally when cockerels are in a dominance fight the loser gets trapped next to that netting and goes vertical to escape. He might accidentally land on the wrong side of the netting. He has the physical ability to fly over the netting but unless he is trapped he doesn't want to bad enough to just fly out.

Will your chicks fly over a 3' high fence? I do not know. They might, they might not. It depends on how badly one wants to. Often 3' high is enough but you don't get guarantees on behaviors with living animals.


The shear number of chicks mean that the will outgrow my current pool very quickly and I need to either expand or move them to the coop early? Now I will be running electricity out there and can put the heat lamps in there. Should I do 1 or put both out there. My coop is 36” x 161” with 4 levels of perches and 6 nesting boxes.

Your 4' diameter pool is roughly equivalent to a 3' x 4' brooder (12.5 square feet). My first brooder was 3' x 5'. I kept 28 chicks (almost all female) in there until the were 5 weeks old. I kept another batch of 21 (almost all male) in there for 5 weeks. Males need a little more room than females. In both cases they were OK but that brooder was getting really full. With your 23 full sized fowl (not bantam) RIR chicks of unknown sex I'd expect that brooder to be really full between 4 to 5 weeks.

I'd guess you have about 2-1/2 weeks to get something ready. That could be the coop, that could be a larger brooder. If you ask at an appliance store you can probably get a few large cardboard boxes for free. With some tape you can make a really large brooder in your garage.

In Omaha you can get some pretty cold weather at any time. You can also have some pleasant weather. In Arkansas I had temperatures go from below freezing to the 70's in a 36 hour span. Your coop would need to be set up to handle that type of temperature swings if you move them out there. There are different ways to provide heat out there, heat plates, heat pads, hovers, or other things. I don't use those so I don't know how to set those up for 23 chicks.

I use heat lamps to heat one end and let the far end cool off as it will. I sometimes find ice in the far end but the chicks stay on the toasty end when it is that cold. When the weather warms up they spend a lot of time on the far end where it is not too hot. In winter when it can get below freezing I use two heat lamps in case one goes out. I've never had one fail but it can be a disaster if one does in those temps.

When you hang a heat lamp throw away the clamp that came with it so you are not tempted to rely on it. Use wire (not string or plastic that can burn or melt) to secure it so it cannot fall. After you do that get a second piece of wire and provide back-up. That will eliminate almost all of the risk of fire. If they are out there for a couple of weeks in this set-up they should not need any supplemental heat after 6 weeks of age. You can provide it longer if it makes you feel better but they really won't need it.

One issue you can have is that the water can freeze. There are a lot of different ways to handle that but I keep my water in the heated area.

That coop is small by our standards. If you wish you can follow the link in my signature to see why I think extra room can be important. I understand commercial operations can and do provide coops with that much square footage per chicken but we are generally not commercial operations. It would be interesting to see photos of that coop to see how it as arranged being only 3' wide.

I don't consider the coop in isolation but consider it as part of your overall "space" system along with the run. How much total room you have, how it is arranged, and when it is available are important. In Omaha in winter it is possible that they will be trapped inside the coop only (run not available) for long periods of time due to weather. At that kind of chicken density you run risks of behavioral problems.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Looks like it would be easier to slid the pool in one direction to adjust the heat direction...move the
Pool not the lights I’m thinking would be easiest to provide a cool area.
I gave mealworms as a treat. They are great protein for growing feathers. I’d crushed them in the palm of my hand when the chicks were small.
To this day all I have to do is hold my hand a certain way and say “come here” I have zero problems getting them into the run. Healthy treats help with training.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Buckeye2002 can you post some photos of your coop/run - where you are planning on housing the chickens?

 

[Buckeye2002]

Here are pics of my coop. There just a few things left to do.

Access doors for eggs and food/water, siding.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Here are pics of my coop. There just a few things left to do.

Access doors for eggs and food/water, siding.

View attachment 1598532View attachment 1598533 View attachment 1598534View attachment 1598536 View attachment 1598537View attachment 1598538 View attachment 1598539View attachment 1598540

How Wonderful!!! Absolutely beautiful! You’ve put a lot of thought into that fabulous coop. Can you come build MINE? Please pretty please!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Other than the windows are there any vents that aren't easily seen, especially in the roof area? With that sharply pitched roof that would be a fantastic place to add ventilation openings.

The base is surrounded by wire for pests I assume? Go much smaller... 1/4" or 1/2" hardware cloth or welded wire, in order to keep out rodents which will be attracted to the underside of the coop.

 

[123RedBeard]

Are all of your chicks pullets? (Female? )

Coop seems like a small space for that many birds ... it seems like they will have full 24/7 access to the lower portion? (Ramp look kinda steep to me)

How often are they gonna be able to come out to the rest of the yard?

How do you plan to gather the eggs?

How do you plan to clean the far end of the coop?

Have thought about where to put water and food?

Roof peaks could use some vents too ...

 

[Buckeye2002]

By one week they may be able to jump up on edge of pool and go thru the fencing you have there(which looks like 2x4 holes?).

A 3x13' coop is probably going to be tight for 23 birds once they are 4-6 months old.
Feeders and waterers are going to take up some space too.
A 3' width is limiting in how the birds can use multi levels in a coop,
they need room to fly/jump down without crashing into something.
Might depend on coop and run, pics would help.
Might also depend on if all those chicks are females, or some are males that will be leaving the flock.

Both lights may be needed. Usually we warn of fire danger with heat lamps in coop, but those are the safest of heat lamps. Any electrical/wiring can be dangerous tho.
Put them at one end of coop with their heat ranges overlapping, put a thermometer or two on the floor of coop to gauge where those heat ranges are.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

Here are some pics of my coop:

 

[Buckeye2002]

Are all of your chicks pullets? (Female? )
My chicks are almost 2 weeks old and all female.

Coop seems like a small space for that many birds ... it seems like they will have full 24/7 access to the lower portion? (Ramp look kinda steep to me)
They will have access to the lower run but I did put in a mech so that I can close them up if needed.

How often are they gonna be able to come out to the rest of the yard?
Yes, they will have access to the entire backyard almost every day.

How do you plan to gather the eggs?
We are putting in 6" round doors in the wall behind each nesting box.

How do you plan to clean the far end of the coop?
I am putting in a small door the entire width of the coop and using my power washer to clean the coop. The coop floor has vinyl flooring installed to ease cleaning.

Have thought about where to put water and food?
Along the back wall will be a door that the water and food will be attached to.

The roosts (4) are positioned across the width of the coop at the far end. Also I plan to put a chicken swing on the inside and below in the run.

Roof peaks could use some vents too ...