Hello i'm Shell, I've recently aquired 3 chickens, my sons school hatched them from eggs and we brought 3 of them home at 5 days old, they are now 10 weeks old.
We have had them inside in a large parrot cage while we have been building an outdoor run for them which is now finished. i bought a coop online with a built in run which said suitable for up to seven chickens but when it arrived the coop is great but the run seemed tiny to me so weve built a big one. i put them out yesterday for the first time and they loved it out there but i bought them in at night in case it was too cold. they are outside again today and it is not as warm as yesterday its about 11*C and raining! the coop is covered with plastic sheeting of course! as weve had three weeks of non stop rain! and i've put the heat lamp in there but cant actually turn it on til we have finished running armoured cable to the end of the garden! so should i wait til the lamp is on before leaving them out all night? also i have been feeding them chick crumbs but should i be giving them anything else? veg or anything?
As you can tell i've never kept chickens before and all advice is welcomed.
Thanks Shell x
We have had them inside in a large parrot cage while we have been building an outdoor run for them which is now finished. i bought a coop online with a built in run which said suitable for up to seven chickens but when it arrived the coop is great but the run seemed tiny to me so weve built a big one. i put them out yesterday for the first time and they loved it out there but i bought them in at night in case it was too cold. they are outside again today and it is not as warm as yesterday its about 11*C and raining! the coop is covered with plastic sheeting of course! as weve had three weeks of non stop rain! and i've put the heat lamp in there but cant actually turn it on til we have finished running armoured cable to the end of the garden! so should i wait til the lamp is on before leaving them out all night? also i have been feeding them chick crumbs but should i be giving them anything else? veg or anything?
As you can tell i've never kept chickens before and all advice is welcomed.
Thanks Shell x