I'm sitting here with my 3yo daughter. I told her everyone on here has chickens too and she said "let me say hi to them, ok?" hahaha, so here we are! We were are the feed store a few weeks ago and she saw the baby chics and she was so in love I just couldn't tell her no, so we picked up 4 chicks. Our whole life seems to be revolving around these chics these days. They have gotten much larger than I thought they would in just a few weeks and they are out growing the little cage they sold me down there. They said they would be fine in this cage for at least 2 months, but there is no way! So... I started building a run for them and will be building a coop later. The run is about 8' x 14' x 7' tall. I really don't know much about chickens, but I am an avid 'researcher' and keep coming across this site and I have learned a great deal in the past couple of weeks thanks to this place. (I've been a lurker).
Anyway, these chickens need to go outside SOON, but I am broke as a joke and don't have a penny left to make a coop. Took everything I had to scroubge up some chicken wire and fence posts for the run. What would be an 'OK' solution to use for a month or two for sort of a little 'house' for them to go into a night? The run is predator-proof, and my only real concern is possibly being a little chilly at night maybe. (lows right now are in the 60 degree range and will be for the next month or two. Is that too cold for a 1 month old hen to be outside? I am thinking about just cutting a big hole in the side of a plastic tote for them to go in and out of freely, stuffing some bedding in there and drilling some small (1" or so) holes around the top and just set it in the run. Would this be suffecient to house them for a month or so until I can get a proper coop built?
Anyway, nice to be here, look forward to participating in this community. I am really hooked on these chickens now that I've got them, and I am planning things to house a larger flock (something like 10 maybe) If I can get these ones outside I could probably pick up a few more next week and get them started indoors (my husband may shoot me if I do it tho haha... he said "NO WAY!" to the chickens to start with but I did it anyway
He won't admit it, but he likes um now that he sees our daughter so excited about all things chicken.
Anyway, these chickens need to go outside SOON, but I am broke as a joke and don't have a penny left to make a coop. Took everything I had to scroubge up some chicken wire and fence posts for the run. What would be an 'OK' solution to use for a month or two for sort of a little 'house' for them to go into a night? The run is predator-proof, and my only real concern is possibly being a little chilly at night maybe. (lows right now are in the 60 degree range and will be for the next month or two. Is that too cold for a 1 month old hen to be outside? I am thinking about just cutting a big hole in the side of a plastic tote for them to go in and out of freely, stuffing some bedding in there and drilling some small (1" or so) holes around the top and just set it in the run. Would this be suffecient to house them for a month or so until I can get a proper coop built?
Anyway, nice to be here, look forward to participating in this community. I am really hooked on these chickens now that I've got them, and I am planning things to house a larger flock (something like 10 maybe) If I can get these ones outside I could probably pick up a few more next week and get them started indoors (my husband may shoot me if I do it tho haha... he said "NO WAY!" to the chickens to start with but I did it anyway
He won't admit it, but he likes um now that he sees our daughter so excited about all things chicken.
