Can we build it? Yes we can... probably... kind of!

[Tooshay89]

I would not put food and water in the nest.
Have a nipple waterer low enough for chicks to use, in addition to an open one.
If the ramp is not too steep they can probably navigate it.

Thanks, will do! I have those brooder nipple waterers (they're using them in the brooder now) the I can mount to the wall of the coop so they can reach them. I'll keep an eye on them for the next few days. If it's not working out with the mama hen, I can always put them back in the brooder.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Enjoy we woke up to our first dusting of snow for the year everything here is crippled
we are fortunate no need to leave our home

 

[PouleChick]

What a fabulous story! Love the coop - you did such a good job on it! You babies are so cute. How many did you manage to sneak under the mama hen in the end?

 

[Tooshay89]

What a fabulous story! Love the coop - you did such a good job on it! You babies are so cute. How many did you manage to sneak under the mama hen in the end?

A dozen chicks! I actually put two chicks under her the first night as a test - it was her first time being broody and I had no idea as to what kind of momma she would be. I monitored her the next day and she accepted the babies right away. So the following night, I put the remaining 10 chicks under her and hoped she would accept them. She did! She is a fabulous momma hen, very protective. Our other orpington girls are not the slightest bit aggressive to the babies. Our rooster, who was a little too interested in the chicks in the beginning, got one quick "talking to" from mama buff and he has since accepted the babies.

She's down to 7 babies now. We sold a few after they were eggshell sexed - now we're down to 5 silver laced orpington girls and 2 boys. My original plan was to replace our Ameraucana rooster with one of the silver laced boys once they mature, but my son is super attached to the rooster, so I guess we'll be rehoming the two babies.

 

[N F C]

A dozen chicks! I actually put two chicks under her the first night as a test - it was her first time being broody and I had no idea as to what kind of momma she would be. I monitored her the next day and she accepted the babies right away. So the following night, I put the remaining 10 chicks under her and hoped she would accept them. She did! She is a fabulous momma hen, very protective. Our other orpington girls are not the slightest bit aggressive to the babies. Our rooster, who was a little too interested in the chicks in the beginning, got one quick "talking to" from mama buff and he has since accepted the babies.

She's down to 7 babies now. We sold a few after they were eggshell sexed - now we're down to 5 silver laced orpington girls and 2 boys. My original plan was to replace our Ameraucana rooster with one of the silver laced boys once they mature, but my son is super attached to the rooster, so I guess we'll be rehoming the two babies.

View attachment 1677933

View attachment 1677934

What a great little mama @Tooshay89

 

[Tooshay89]

Update of the week:

The coop is officially DONE! The baby chicks, now a little over 2 weeks old, have moved in to the coop (with the heat plate for night time.) It's in the upper 80s already here - yes really.

The girls were so excited. They have 6 chicks at the moment - 4 girls, a young cockerel that they hope to keep, and another cockerel that was supposed to be given to a farm family who took all of their other extra chicks. But this little olive egger (now named "oliver") developed wry neck at a week old. The girls diligently took care of him and nursed him back to health. They made accommodations for him in the brooder and gave him drops of nutri-drench 3 times a day. He's 100% better! I was honestly surprised, I thought he'd have to be culled because the wry neck was SO bad. They're planning on holding onto him until the boys start to mature, and they'll find a home for him then.

The girls (and one of their friends) in front of the coop for "moving day." Please don't mind my no makeup, sweaty, just-finished-building-a-coop-in-the-hot-humid-weather look. Blurred the kids' faces since they aren't my kids.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Great photos the cockerel you will get more the older they get also

 

[aart]

Please don't mind my no makeup, sweaty, just-finished-building-a-coop-in-the-hot-humid-weather look.

You look better without the makeup.....and not too disheveled, how hard were you actually working

 

[Tooshay89]

You look better without the makeup.....and not too disheveled, how hard were you actually working

Hah! Well, since yesterday was President's Day and all of the kids were home from school, I recruited my son (10), his friend (in the picture, also 10), and the girls to help finish up. The boys and my husband did most of the hard labor yesterday - shoveling 8+ inches of sand into the run, and another couple of inches in the coop, and then mixed it with PDZ. There was also a trench to be dug for the water hose, so we could hook up the automatic waterer system.

Although the "last day" was yesterday, we do still have to go back sometime this week and finish up a few minor things. I want to add boards behind the poop tray so when the birds get bigger, they don't manage to poop in those small spaces (because you know they will.) And we also have to put down the rest of the hardware cloth apron around the coop/run and cover with sand.

We would've had everything done yesterday, but we had a tragic accident - with my phone.

Once we had the trench dug for the hose, we measured it out to determine what size hose we needed to buy. I had my phone sitting on a paint can near the coop, but my husband put the boys to work shoveling sand in that area, so he moved it to avoid having sand all over the phone (in hindsight I would have preferred the sand!) He then took my Durango to the hardware store down the road to grab a new hose. Upon his return, I told him that I couldn't find my phone... and he suddenly remembered where he moved it to. The top of the Durango. He started calling my phone, but none of us could hear it. He looked it up on the "find my iPhone" app, and lo and behold - it's about half a mile down the road.

Do you know what happens to a phone when it's flung from the top of an SUV at 55-60+ mph? Not good things. My husband and the boys took off down the road to try to find the phone, and found it, but the case was nowhere to be found, and it was completely shattered. I had a pretty solid case on it, and a glass screen protector, but it was no match for the tumble that it took. It still (kind of) works, but the sound stopped working and it must have some internal issues because it keeps sending me alerts and doing things when I'm not touching the phone. I run a business and can't have a half-working phone, so we knew it would have to be replaced. But obviously I had insurance on the phone. Just kidding, I didn't. I just bought it back in November, too. After a quick run to the Verizon store, they told me that my iPhone wasn't in stock (in the size that I needed) in any of the local stores. Of course. We ordered another one directly from Apple, but I'm still without a phone until tomorrow.

So long story short, we ended up over budget on the "coop" by about a thousand dollars.

 

[PouleChick]

A dozen chicks! I actually put two chicks under her the first night as a test - it was her first time being broody and I had no idea as to what kind of momma she would be. I monitored her the next day and she accepted the babies right away. So the following night, I put the remaining 10 chicks under her and hoped she would accept them. She did! She is a fabulous momma hen, very protective.

That is awesome - I think chicks do so much better with a mummy than being in a brooder!
Lovely pic too