- May 23, 2012
- 1
- 0
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Hellos Everybody!
I have already enjoyed this site quite a bit and it has helped me tremendously getting started. I finally fullfilled a long dream of having chickens - so last Friday I got 6 Red Sex hens and as of now they seem to be quite content and actually even friendly. My dog is protecting them fiercly - unfortunately not their lives but more as if he has to protect his next meal. So there is some work to do....
I am wondering about one thing - since I did not know anything about chickens I found the CConly.com site the best in terms of coop designs as well as price, I decided to buy the CC55, which claims to be able to house 6-10 hens depending on the size of the hens. Overall the design seems to be great in terms of the pull out trays for easy cleaning etc.... but at night my 6 girls seem to ALL crawl into the few nesting boxes and sleep there and barely use the roosting bar?!. I thought they usually sleep on the roosting bar?!! the first time I checked on them after dark the coop appeared empty and I got scared until I found them all in the boxes.
I have a total of 4 nesting boxes and the previous night 5 of them squeezed in there and one was out and lonley on the roosting bar. Last night I checked before going to bed and all 6 of them had squeezed themselves into four nesting boxes - most of them in the upper ones - I don`t know how they fit, but I guess they do - is this normal? I thought the coop was quite small, but maybe I could have gotten more hens, so they don`t feel so exposed on the roosting bar? The roosting bar is located only maybe 2 inches off the ground - is that too low for them?
if anybody has some time to look at it and give me some advise - here is a link to the website - I bought the CC55:
http://cconly.com/coop__hutches/chicken_coop
also am wondering if I could get two more hens - it looked so small to me, but the way they seem to like to cuddle I am wondering if I could have gotten 8 in total - any advise? the coop size is 77inches long x 32 inches wide and maybe 3 feet high at the inside center.
many thanks in advance to all the kind souls that are so generously sharing their experience.
I have already enjoyed this site quite a bit and it has helped me tremendously getting started. I finally fullfilled a long dream of having chickens - so last Friday I got 6 Red Sex hens and as of now they seem to be quite content and actually even friendly. My dog is protecting them fiercly - unfortunately not their lives but more as if he has to protect his next meal. So there is some work to do....
I am wondering about one thing - since I did not know anything about chickens I found the CConly.com site the best in terms of coop designs as well as price, I decided to buy the CC55, which claims to be able to house 6-10 hens depending on the size of the hens. Overall the design seems to be great in terms of the pull out trays for easy cleaning etc.... but at night my 6 girls seem to ALL crawl into the few nesting boxes and sleep there and barely use the roosting bar?!. I thought they usually sleep on the roosting bar?!! the first time I checked on them after dark the coop appeared empty and I got scared until I found them all in the boxes.
I have a total of 4 nesting boxes and the previous night 5 of them squeezed in there and one was out and lonley on the roosting bar. Last night I checked before going to bed and all 6 of them had squeezed themselves into four nesting boxes - most of them in the upper ones - I don`t know how they fit, but I guess they do - is this normal? I thought the coop was quite small, but maybe I could have gotten more hens, so they don`t feel so exposed on the roosting bar? The roosting bar is located only maybe 2 inches off the ground - is that too low for them?
if anybody has some time to look at it and give me some advise - here is a link to the website - I bought the CC55:
http://cconly.com/coop__hutches/chicken_coop
also am wondering if I could get two more hens - it looked so small to me, but the way they seem to like to cuddle I am wondering if I could have gotten 8 in total - any advise? the coop size is 77inches long x 32 inches wide and maybe 3 feet high at the inside center.
many thanks in advance to all the kind souls that are so generously sharing their experience.