Bad start with chickens; now what?

[lunahills]

You did wonderful but I had to laugh whenever you said one of the big girls was in there. I bet it was a funny sight to see her get through that tiny opening! This thread is wonderful!

Also I should mention that yesterday I saw them all 4 sitting on top of that little dog crate side by side. They seem to like the top much more than the inside, but it was funny to see them all up there at once.

 

[Erinshortcake]

We have 9x16 walk in run attached to the coop for six birds. Our coop is the same size as yours. The coop is too small, so my husband building a new one. The run is awesome though there's plenty of room for them to roam in the winter when the hawks are extra hungry. We've introduced pullets a couple of times. We set a smaller wire cage with straw cover, water, food and a heater in the run. The ladies got to mingle safely for a couple weeks. After that period, the first set were set free in our acre sized yard to mingle freely.The second set we let loose in the run with one older bird, then two, then three. Both ways worked like a charm.

 

[countryladyNH]

I have put a dog crate inside the run, but I can’t imagine caging the little ones in it all day, they’d have even less space than they already have.

We still have plans to expand their run, but I just purchased two of the wire expandable dog kennel fences that you can set up in different configurations. I’m putting them together into one run (32 square feet) that will function as a tractor and I’ll move it around for them to get some grass and variation. It will also serve as a way to alternate the big girls and the little girls for now.

For us in the next couple of months, fortunately, money is slightly less of an issue than time. So this will hopefully hold us over until we can build something better and more permanent, and by then the babies will be a little bigger as well.

In the first place, it was not all day. The dog crate was to expose the 'littles' to the flock for a few hours at a time. It was temp while we built a removable 'wall' of hardware cloth in a frame that attached upper and lower in the run and blocks off a portion of the run just for them. After a few weeks of being in what amounted to their own run seeing all the other birds close up, we were able to unhook the wall and everyone was just fine. During this time we did NOT put the littles in the coop at night with the other birds; Like a lot of other people, lol we had at one time gotten one of those teeny, cheesy, TS coops, and it was sitting around unused, and rather than get rid of it, we fixed it up a little with hardware cloth screen, etc., and we use it for 'broodies' or babies. (It's the little one next to the shed in photo.) Our setup works just wonderfully.

 

[lunahills]

I finally got all the parts to set up the tractor/temporary run today. I plan to alternate them 2-3 at a time for a few hours a day. So far they seem really happy to have grass and a little more space.

Initially I chose this fencing because it’s modular and you can easily change the layout of the pen, but I think I’ll be leaving it in this shape and just moving it around for fresh grass.

 

[ReelFaster]

I finally got all the parts to set up the tractor/temporary run today. I plan to alternate them 2-3 at a time for a few hours a day. So far they seem really happy to have grass and a little more space.

Initially I chose this fencing because it’s modular and you can easily change the layout of the pen, but I think I’ll be leaving it in this shape and just moving it around for fresh grass.

Great job, look great!!