First Night in the coop

[MissD1970]

New chicken mama here, and my babies are outside for the first time tonight! Im a nervous wreck! Hopefully I will make it through the night. And my Husband, Mr "these are your chickens" has been out there several times to check on "his girls" LOL well, just needed to vent.

Night all

 

[cmom]

When we got our first chickens my husband brought home these chicks and a 5# bag of chick feed. I thought now what am I supposed to do. I went to one of our local feed stores and bought a brooder cage and a heat lamp, feeder and waterer. He didn't want them in the house so I put them in the garage and made a cover for the cage with the heat lamp and a wireless temperature sensor so I could monitor the temp from inside the house. Needless to say I did not sleep well the first few night as I was making a lot of trips out to check on the chicks. Now I'm an addict.

 

[gritsar]

I'm sure they'll be fine and sleep well. You on the other hand may not.

 

[SAHMof2]

Oh sleep well! Seems as though you are now an empty nester.

I"ll be there in two weeks time.

 

[hispoptart]

Hope you got some sleep, I was the same way when I put mine outside. Our temps were still getting down in the low 30's. But they made it and are doing well. They have been out for about 2 weeks now.

 

[snozzleberry]

Hi there,
How'd it go? What was the temp? I am putting my first flock in their coop tonight and I am worried about them getting cold.
Good luck with your new hobby--from one newbie to another.

 

[MissD1970]

Hi! I did not sleep very well as many of you guessed. lol. needless to say, they were fine when I went to open their door and let them out as soon as I woke up. I said "hi girls!!" and they started peeping and gathering together on the side of the coop I was on. The temp was high 40s, low 50s so it wasnt too bad. I am panicking about winter already, but one day at a time I tell myself. As far as being a n empty nester, that couldnt have been more on target. lol I am an over the top nurterer, (just ask my 5 kids) so Im a little nuts. anyway, all is well, they are happy as can be. the only problem I am having is getting them to go back in the coop at night. My 6'4 200 pound husband is actually squeezing him self into the run and shooing them up the ladder to teach them to go in at dusk. well, the last few nights, they have just laid there together, let him crawl in and pick each one up and put them inside. when he picks up one, the others dont budge, they just wait their turn. do I have a bunch of divas on my hands?? how do I train them to go in at night? we are going away for 2 nights the end of the month,. and I cant ask my "chicken sitter' to crawl in the coop!!! any help woud be appreciated!

 

[ronikins]

I think mine were relunctant to go in for a few nights. I kept them in the coop maybe a night or two in the beginning. And eventually, they just started goin in on their own! Give them time. Chickens usually pick up on these things.

Good luck! And

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
It's recommended that you keep chickens locked in a new coop for a week or at least a few days before turning them out to a run or to free range. That helps imprint the coop as home in their itty bitty little brains. They'll instinctively want to return to it at night for safety.

The young ones seem to always want to push bedtime up to the last minute. The last ones in my coops at night are always the youngest ones.

 

[MissD1970]

Ok, so after 4 nights of my husband crawling in the tiny run and shooing them up the ladder, they went in themselves! He went out to put them in and came running back in telling me they were all cuddled up in a nesting box in the coop! Yay!! only thing was, you need to remove the roof of the coop to shut the coop door, so we left it open.

I was a nervous wreck. It also was 100 degrees the last few days and I figured I cant shut them up in a "plastic coop". All is GREAT..loving this chicken thing!!!