Ok, perhaps I SHOULD have built the coop & run before we got the gals. But out of sheer excitement and concern that I'd never get them if I waited (figured having them here would be motivation to get the coop built), we ordered our girls. Of course, time has flown quickly and our other looming deadlines have taken priority over the coop construction. But now my girls are almost 8 weeks, I have no coop, and I'm out of commission at the moment after a car accident this weekend. I was hoping to have them out by 10 or 11 weeks, but I just don't think that will happen now. It may be closer to 16. I'm just wondering if there are any problems with waiting to move them outside? Obviously, it means picking up after them in the house a bit longer. And I'm guessing I should be taking them out for jaunts in the yard at least a few times a week instead of once. But I'm hoping that since some people keep "house chickens", my gals will survive just fine. Any advice? Anyone else wait quite a while to move their chooks out?
Hope you get well soon! Dh and & were lax/lazy about getting our main coop/run finished also. Back in June we moved our Bantam flock outdoors (@ 6 weeks old). We special ordered a Chick-N-Barn & Yard through Tractor Supply. Modified it a bit by setting it up on a frame to buy us time and giving them more space. They are 14 weeks old today and still in the above mentioned temporary coop. I never thought I'd be happy about being in the drought that we are. If we'd had our normal rains, our flock would more than likely have major health issues. We got busy working on our main chicken run again today only to run into some problems and will never, ever not be ready again. If you have room in your house and can get them out for more "jaunts" I think they'll be okay. Hopefully someone with more experience, in the right direction, will reply soon. Dawn
At 10 weeks my chickens are huge. I can't imagine keeping them in my house at their size. Good luck. I hope you get your coop built and finished.
My gals seem to be ok so far. They are in a large watermelon box with a 3'+ long roost at one end. Since they'll have to be in there a while longer, I was thinking of creating a "deluxe chicken suite" by adding another large watermelon box and cutting a doorway between the two. Figure that would at least allow them to spread out a bit more as they get larger (will provide them with more than adequate sq footage). Only thing they're lacking is obviously the constant fresh air of the outdoors and plenty of headroom to flap around in. They do come out at least twice a day and peck around the room they're in; actually, they've pulled off some quarter round at the base of the wall to get at insect bodies caught in spider webs--guess we'll put them to work whenever we decide to demo that room. I'll try to take them out for some free ranging at least 2 or 3 times a week, but can't do that everyday. So is the general consensus that it's ok to keep them inside as long as they have enough room and I can put up with them in the house?
You can do it, and the free range time is great. It will allow slow exposure to the elements and the things in the soil for them to gain immunities too. You'll just have lots of cleaning to do!