Couldn't do it...... Edit... We made it!, pg 3

[IggiMom]

Quote:
And I thought I had it bad. I've gone outside in the middle of the night becauze my St Bernard was raisng cane just to make sure nothing was bothering my chickens. I put chicks out side at 3 weeks old, but it's hot here. we are getting 100+ in the day and 80's and 90's at night. Not much break from the weather. I heard we are suppose to have a cold snap. Suppose to get down to the lower 90's and upper 80's. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, i'm freezing just thinking about it.

I don't think you are being silly at all! Gosh if you had a guard dog and it is raising a ruckus you would be wrong NOT to check on it.

Of course, they think a deer in the yard is every bit as earth shaking as something evil like a coyote or raccoon--but you never know, do you!

I hope you survive the cold snap!

Catherine

 

[TheBirdhouse]

When I put my 2 and a half week old Plymouth Barred Rock chicks out in the coop I worried alot, im in the bush in the middle of nowhere and bears have been coming around, this week i walked out my door and down the steps only to see a mama black bear with her cubs about 15 feet away from me, i backed slowly into the house and almost pooped my pants, I thought i was crazy for worrying so much, i feel the coop is safe but i still worry.

They are now around 4 weeks old now and i feel that with them experiencing the outdoors, it has made them stronger and definatley much more happy, i get such a kick watching them play with bugs and stuff.

 

[SurprisingWoman]

Well, the girls are back out in the coop. Last night I basically tossed them in their coop and then went to a party. When I got home I realized they hadn't been able to see well enough to get comfortable with their new home.

Today I made a non-predator proof screen "door" to replace the solid door and I put the girls in there an hour ago. I gave them half an hour to acclimate and then I went out and removed the screen and sat and gave them snuggles and showed them the roosts and things.

They seem to be doing better today. I have an LED in there on low so they will have light tonight and they are getting familiar with their coop still so I feel they are getting the best start possible. I will go out in another half hour and get the locks on the coop and get them ready for "bed."

I did tell my husband that I think I could have chosen a better time to move them out into their coop than the weekend they start selling fireworks for the 4th.

Oh well. It's all good. They will be fine and so will I.

I think.

 

[WriterofWords]

Well it's pouring like crazy and I'm soaking wet but my babies are dry!! Now they are anyway, instead of getting in their house, they were huddled next to it getting wet, so I tucked them in with Charlotte and they are under her wings with the eggs I stuffed under her last night.

 

[SurprisingWoman]

They're back in the brooder in the house.

I went out after I had removed the screen "door" and shut the wooden door and they were all snuggled up under the feeder in the "foyer" of the coop.

It has hardware cloth so it is the lightest place in the coop but I can't have them snuggled up to the windiest, coolest, most exposed place in the coop!

I will put them in the coop tomorrow for some more familiarity and try again tomorrow.

The IFA guy told me they had to stay in the house until they were at least 12 weeks old so we are actually ahead of schedule.

No biggie.

Oy

 

[wombat]

We start by putting ours outide in a covered run by day, but moving them to large wire dog crates inside the sun room by night. After a while of this, we start putting them into the coop in the evening "by hand" for a few nights, and putting some scratch down for them. They take to the coop in a couple of nights, and go right in from their run ... but we often let them free-range in the afternoons, and it took a while for them to get the idea that they should go back to the coop/run at dusk; for quite a while, they'd come to the house and demand to be let in!

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

Quote:
Holy crap that was close, it could have been very dangerous since she had cubs with her!!! Glad you were close enough to the house to get in safely!! What you said tho kinda made me laugh tho about soiling your pants!!

 

[cmom]

I put a night light out in my coop. I have put a radio on for the chicks too.

 

[SurprisingWoman]

I have a chicken tractor made out of a kitchen cabinet and large wooden box. My chicks were staying in the "foyer" next to the food and the hardwood clothed door. I didn't want them to stay where it was going to be so exposed. We really do get super windy at night.

Yesterday I figured out how to make a hardware cloth partition to put in there at bedtime so the girls would be confined to the coop portion of the tractor.

I made sure they were all comfortable, checked on them twice and they made it just fine. I guess today I will start dusting and vacuuming up shavings!

Thanks for your support, everyone.