Feeling a little stressed about coop build

[beela]

Do you have a dog crate? We were also unprepared for how fast they would outgrow what we thought would be their brooder, but we had an old 42" dog kennel that we moved them into until they moved out to the coop. We are in Nola, and I moved our girls outside when they were 3.5 weeks old. They are flourishing out there.

 

[ChickenFajita6]

Hello from Louisiana. We also just got 6 little chicks, and they also quickly outgrew their first little home! We have to build our coop too, and plan to do it ourselves so we have something that lasts. Our fix for now (since the chicks are just over 2 weeks old and still have a bit of time before I am comfortable putting them outside anyway) was to make this set up out of plywood. It was pretty affordable, and my husband did it in a few hours. They are LOVING all the space!
The top is actually 2 parts (one not pictured) so they are totally caged in.

 

[bekachickenborn]

If you have a garage you don't mind giving up until the coop is done, we keep our chickens who are nearly coop ready, or who need quarantined in a baby play yard in the garage, with cardboard/shaving underneath and chicken wire overtop. Cheap and can't get much easier. This is the one we use. We initially bought it for our toddler. Who hated it. So it became the chickens'!