Failed miserably moving to chicks to coup

[TominWa]

I know.......monster! The only other chickens I have had I got at about 6 weeks and that was years ago so it was completely different. You raise these things from little babies and it is a completely different experience.

there are dozens of threads on here, I read the books and there are many opinions, advise and it is confusing as heck. Throw em outside, put a light over them. Don't put a light over them. Put them out at three weeks. Put them out at four weeks, Six weeks. I'm telling you it is driving me nuts.

Why I care about these little things so much is beyond me.

It was easier kicking the kids out of the house.

I think June is right, she is being nice about it, but I have to toughen up. I have one chicken left to name. She is a tough bird

.......I am going to call her June.

 

[azygous]

June is appropriate.

If you're this involved with your chicks now, I warn you, it will only get worse.

When your chicken first aid stash is larger than what's inside your medicine cabinet, you have a problem. When you lose sleep at night because an eight year old hen is sick and you are facing having to euthanize her, you have a problem. When you brave a blizzard, shoveling packed snow away from the coop to get to a rooster who has already lost part of his comb to frostbite to haul said rooster back to the house through driving snow to grease his headgear up so he can survive the night without further frostbite damage, you have a problem.

And it only gets worse the longer you have chickens because they really get into your emotions in a huge way.

 

[weirdlywired]

Thank you for your encouragement and tough love. I am obviously not as strong as you are, and am a poor excuse for a chicken keeper. Yes, I admit, they are obviously special chickens. I will attempt another run into the coup in a few days. I'm not sure I am emotionally ready after last night and need to prepare myself....and the chickens.

We will have a long discussion tonight before reading time....together - and somehow make the transition from their pampered four star hotel into ...well....less than what they are used to.

Pictured Scarlett, Helga, Diana, and Rose

Perhaps a webcam and baby monitor in the coup....just for a while?

We used an old cell phone and velcro and some app and we were able to watch them from our jobs - it was very comforting to be able to see them! However, we weren't very productive at work for a couple of weeks! (WORTH IT!!!)

 

[Stephine]

You got great advice already. I just want to sympathize...
I was surprised to find out that chicks and chickens really are , ehem, chicken!!! Anything different scares them, often to a complete freak out.
And darkness seems to be a real biggie. I just switched my two from the dark red bulb to a heat emitter so they sleep at night and they have thrown a fit two nights in a row now.
I wait until they finally quiet down and pick them up from their hiding spot behind the waterer to put them back to the other end where they used to sleep and then they stay in that area because it's dark...
I would take a few days and then just put them out in the coop, with the set up you want when they are big, because any change will be a new reason to be scared for them. Better just scare them once and have it be over with. I wouldn't even give them a light unless you want to keep it in there for good. The move will be stressful for them no matter what, better to just stress them once. I would NOT get a camera or baby monitor or anything like that - it'll just be more unnecessary torture for you and you're more likely to bring them all back inside again!

But, yes, having any animals is rough at times! Heck, I had a bunch of pollywogs once and raised them and I was an emotional wreck! I never want to do that again!!! (when they turn into frogs and leave the water for the first time you have to get them out of the terrarium, because if they for any reason enter the water again they will drown! I spent every day staring at all the ones that were close , worried I would miss one - that was after finding a string of them floating belly up in the days before.... never again...

).

 

[TominWa]

Stephanie, thank you for sharing. I did listen to the very kind chicken ladies who were helping me earlier. They are experts who know the ways of the chicken and I know enough to listen to them.

Even it if hurts and is difficult.

I have taken steps. Although not as draconian as I am sure that I should have taken. I have turned off all heat and let it get dark in my office. Yes, the brooder is in my office. Just a hint of light comes in and it is dark. When checking on them, as the sun set, they were noticeably upset, although not as upset as one would imagine. They were all trying to dive under each other. I sat in my chicken watching chair and did my mother hen "buck buck buck" that I have been doing every time I visit with them since day one...... and that seemed to help calm them down.

As I write this, it is about 10 o'clock and I quietly went in to check and they are all sleeping and having their little chicken dreams. Little LuLu, even left the pile and is sleeping on a little brooding perch I made.

I expect that after a few days I can again try the move to the coup and this time neither the heat nor lack of light will be an issue.

 

[TominWa]

5:30 AM - the follow morning.

Twice I woke up in the night. The type of bolting awake you get from a bad dream. I resisted the urge to open the door, settling only for leaning against the glass to listen.

Nothing. Not a peep.

The second bout of bolting awake I just stayed on the couch. As the sky began to ever so lighten, I drifted awake to the sound of happiness. You know the sound. The happy little chirping of a flock of eight baby chickens. No check that, they aren't babies anymore. They spent the night with no heat, and no light.

They didn't need me.

I entered the room and they all immediately ran to the end of the boxes and started chirping "pick me up" "no, pick me up!" and we all had a good morning greeting with treats. There may have been snuggles but I'm not going into that.

My un-caring wife finally came downstairs, how she could sleep through the night....how?

The ladies who helped me with chicken counseling were correct on every front. A few more nights of this and I expect to have my chickens in their coup.

Thank you......ladies....... you are truly chicken whisperers.

 

[Fairview01]

Put the chickens in the coop. They are 100% feathered out. Away from drafts they can tolerate overnight freezes.

Next reach out to your local big brothers mentoring program or the like and invest this wasted energy, concern and misplaced love into a deserving young boy.

They're chickens. The only attachment they have to you is their association of you to food. At the end of the month you can feel good about yourself and your chickens or you can reflect on several years of investment helping a boy become a young man.

 

[TominWa]

I wasn't aware that I couldn't do my community involvement projects that my wife and I are involved in...and raise chickens. Thank you for pointing that out to me.



good grief

 

[azygous]

Tom, I can see your lips moving. You're talking baby talk to that chick you're holding, aren't you.

We have your number. So do your chicks.

We will be nominating you for chick-dad of the year if you don't be careful.

 

[BIggoMamma]

Let them out a few hours at a time to get them used to it. They think you are the Mamma. It may be a little chilly. you will do fine.