Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Here's Gabby at 3 weeks and 2 days:
View attachment 2781114

I'm saying a boy, even though I didn't notice any wattles popping out yet. That comb look's big.

 

[Geckolady]

I'm saying a boy, even though I didn't notice any wattles popping out yet. That comb look's big.

The other two have combs a little less than half that size.

The first one that hatched, the one that hatched on your birthday and didn't make it, was also dark colored, and just seemed male even though it died at 7 days old. Maybe a sex link thing here where the makes are all dark and the females have yellow, or just coincidence?

 

[BlueBaby]

The other two have combs a little less than half that size.

The first one that hatched, the one that hatched on your birthday and didn't make it, was also dark colored, and just seemed male even though it died at 7 days old. Maybe a sex link thing here where the makes are all dark and the females have yellow, or just coincidence?

Maybe so. I think that Gabby has just become Gabriel.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Geckolady You can always do another hatch and see if it really is a sex-link thing.

 

[Geckolady]

Maybe so. I think that Gabby has just become Gabriel.

*sigh* I think you're right.

 

[Geckolady]

@Geckolady You can always do another hatch and see if it really is a sex-link thing.

I'd like to, but where would I put all the chickens?

 

[BlueBaby]

I'd like to, but where would I put all the chickens?

If you put them all in the house, you could always sleep out in the coop.

 

[Parront]

Here's Gabby at 3 weeks and 2 days:
View attachment 2781114

I would think cockerel - especially since his hatchmates are smaller comb. Already looking red, too.

 

[Geckolady]

If you put them all in the house, you could always sleep out in the coop.

It would probably be quieter out there.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I'm only 5 ft so with the roof I'll be able to stand up fine just a little duck at the doorway. My husband brings home the trash pieces of wood from the construction site, with permission of course, so it shouldn't be too long before we have enough to purchase whatever is needed. Only 6 will be going in right now and in a week or 2 the 12 younger ones will go in the baby coop and I'm guessing a week or 2 of introducing before putting them all together. By October we plan to have it expanded to 8ft × 8ft I was really hoping to skate by with a little less room since their not full grown. I wasn't planning on locking them in, they have a 20 × 20 run space now, one corner is triangular shaped as soon I transplant the rest of my succulent garden they'll have nearly double that space and an 8ft × 8ft movable run. Maybe this'll be a lesson for him not to get so many until we have room.

8x4 = 32 sq ft, enough for 8 birds, bare minimum, unless you're planning on locking them in there, overnight in the summer when the heat of the day is right at roost-time. Even if you have the fourth wall completely open (hardware cloth only), you'll want ventilation a good couple feed above the roost so they don't get drafts in winter. so a roost bar at 4 ft, you'd want ventilation starting at 6 ft and going upward to keep the winter drafts off the birds. or, you could have a lean-to or gable roof, where the low side was 6 ft, then use the gable or lean-to triangle as ventilation, but probably not enough ventilation. You'll need at least 1 sq ft ventilation per bird, in our climate I think I'd double that.

The way building costs are, a lot of people are turning to hoop coops (and hoop runs). they'd be made of cattle panels with hardware cloth to prevent reach-in from predators and escapes by birds. Shade cloth or tarps for wind break and to keep them dry.

As @BlueBaby mentioned, there's another good reason for the height (for you to get in and clean up), plus one member (don't recall who) got a trip to the ER because a low-hanging rounded hook got her scalp!