Building a new area for the birds - Please Help me do it right.

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I don't have a clue what she is. Barnyard mix I would guess. Here is a picture of Tootie with Rudy (the Dad) when she came out for her broody break the other day. I know little about chickens, but Tootie is smaller than our babies (15 weeks). That is a pretty good sized stump she is stretching on.
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I’m going to guess that Tootie is a Game Bantam mix

 

[Enchanted1s]

So, we had four of the six eggs hatch! I have everyone's favorite nest box put back in the wall where it was. Hopefully EVERYONE will be happy today. The 50+ mph wind is gone today! And, Tootie and chicks have the entire bottom half of the Hen House to themselves. Well, the bigger chickens can come and go as they please - but the babies can't get out. I removed the screen I had separating the clutch from the others. The new structure is just about completed. I still have to put the doors on the storage side and a bit of HWC yet to be hung on the outside, but the building is secure! I plan to put a pop door on the front coop door AND build them a deck to access it.

QUESTION - how can I convince the other hens to sleep in the new coop - without tearing down the old coop? I would LIKE for Rudy to stay in his rooster pad alone and all the hens in the new coop together. Am I dreaming? or is there a way to make that happen? Since Tootie has been broody, she has been sleeping in the nest box. The three older babies in the new coop, Rudy and the younger (2) hens have been sleeping in the old coop. I tired moving the two at night to the new coop. ONCE, I was able to get the two to go to the new coop, but only once. I went out in the cold four nights in a row and moved them, but they want to sleep with Rudy. The new coop -even just half of it- is really big for just the three babies.

I had this dog cage set up for our babies, when I was trying to get them out of the house, but decided it was too cold and never used it. It has a cloth dog house inside, three walls are further insulated with cardboard and roofing tin. Then I added about 5-6 inches of pine shavings to the bottom. Tootie brought her babies inside right away. The chicks seemed to love having the extra room to run and play.

I will try to get some pictures of how the combining of the two structures is going posted tonight.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

When a pullet or hen sleeps she tucks her head under her wing, cockerels and roosters don’t do this and have a higher chance of getting frostbite. If all of he chickens can fit into one of the two hen houses then close of the smaller henhouse and put any that don’t go into the henhouse the first couple of nights in, eventually they will get the idea. If the above is not possible then let the 2 hens sleep with Rudy, they’ll keep him warm and he won’t be lonely at night. You will also have to re-integrate Tootie and her chicks into the flock at around 4 weeks old (I think, I’ll tag someone who recently integrated a broody and her chick into her flock...@chickens really). What are your plans for any chicks that are cockerels? Will you keep them, sell them, eat them, replace Rudy with one of them?

 

[Enchanted1s]

When a pullet or hen sleeps she tucks her head under her wing, cockerels and roosters don’t do this and have a higher chance of getting frostbite. If all of he chickens can fit into one of the two hen houses then close of the smaller henhouse and put any that don’t go into the henhouse the first couple of nights in, eventually they will get the idea. If the above is not possible then let the 2 hens sleep with Rudy, they’ll keep him warm and he won’t be lonely at night. You will also have to re-integrate Tootie and her chicks into the flock at around 4 weeks old (I think, I’ll tag someone who recently integrated a broody and her chick into her flock...@chickens really). What are your plans for any chicks that are cockerels? Will you keep them, sell them, eat them, replace Rudy with one of them?

Thanks - we do not plan on keeping any of the new chicks - cockerel or pullet! I am either going to attempt to sell them OR give them all to the neighbor from which the parents came! I now have roofing tin along the bottom of the fence that separates us.

I am sure hoping that at least Tootie will choose to sleep in the new coop. Rudy has always slept in the nest box that is attached to the old coop. None of the hens use this box so I have decided that box is the Rooster Pad. I tried closing the door after Rudy had gone in the other night. The two hens would just stand at the closed door wanting in. I was NOT successful at getting them in the new coop. I finally gave up and let them in with Rudy.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Well it seems the hens are happy with their favorite nest box is back. To my surprise, they each left one egg, one in the top (favorite) one in the bottom. The bottom one has been there all week, but the wall was in various stages of construction. One of them left an egg in the new nest box yesterday


I guess I am silently hoping if I keep them in a constant state of change for a while that changes won't bother them as much. Seems to be working. Their area has been a construction zone since December. The original coop was only built in October.

Tonight, I won! Rudy is in his Rooster Pad and all the Hens and babies are in the Hen House! Rudy goes to bed and I shut him in. The other two stand at the door and I had to physically catch them and put them in the new coop.

Almost there! One more door and the structure is fully enclosed. No where near 'done' [if that even really exists], but fully enclosed - I'll take it! A few pictures of the progress...

This one shows the back coop with their ramp. LittleBit is what I call this baby. I guess I will have to stop calling them babies at some point! Tootie and her new clutch are under the coop area, in the dog house. The tin panels under the coop are removable, the ones behind the ramp are not.

Rudy's bachelor pad is the nesting box that is wrapped with the white blanket at the end of the run. The red nesting boxes are also on that wall - behind the old coop. The stump in the middle of the photo (by the new nesting box) is the landing pad for the pop door into the Hen House.


Hopefully, tomorrow the door to the run! Someday soon, the deck on the Hen House. In case you were wondering - NO, they did not use that screen to get into the front coop. Tonight, the 3 big babies are in the back and the 2 young hens are in the front.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Really! I am so over this wind! Just when we had come inside to find the power was out...

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Really! I am so over this wind! Just when we had come inside to find the power was out...
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Tell me about it. Many downed trees and broken limbs means free wood and roosts

 

[Enchanted1s]

But, before all that - I got that pallet out!! That thing had been bothering me for weeks! It is out and moved some furniture in for them LOL.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

But, before all that - I got that pallet out!! That thing had been bothering me for weeks! It is out and moved some furniture in for them LOL.
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Looking good

 

[Enchanted1s]

I am so proud of our little flock! Tootie is being an excellent Momma Hen. Rudy is being a doting dad, AND sleeps alone in his rooster pad without a fuss. Our two young hens that just started laying in the middle of this remodel have continued to give us an egg each day, AND they took to the new nest box in the hen house, AND they have been sleeping in the Hen House with all the girls and babies. The babies (17 weeks Tues.) have done quite well at adjusting from being indoor pets to outdoor chickens. They are still scared of that big rooster that now wants to jump on them, but they know where their home is and never leave the yard (anymore). It has been less and less of an ordeal to get the hens in the Hen House each night. For a couple of older folks that never had chickens before, I think we are doing OK.

I do have a question... how hard is it going to be to get Tootie to go to bed in the new coop once she feels the babies are old enough? She has been sleeping in a cage directly under the new coop in the Hen House since about night 7 of being broody. We always kept her where the others could still see and hear her. Separated by a mesh panel when broody - full access to each other since the chicks hatched. We allow her to come and go from the Hen House as she pleases and allow her and the babies out a couple of times a day. There seems to be NO issues with Tootie & chicks with the others. Tootie has never slept inside the new coop.