Hello!! I am new to you!

[Rebecca1219]

Hi there!
My name is Rebecca and I am new to this group today. For all intents and purposes, I’m new to raising chicks too. I live in sunny central-ish California in the suburbs. We bought a dozen 3-day old chicks about a month ago. 4 cuckoo marans, 4 production blues, 2 Easter eggers and 2 red sex-links. Two weeks After one of our production blues died (around day 5), my husband decided to replace it. With six more.

I had three chickens when I was elementary school aged and loved them; I can remember sliding down my slide with them riding happily in my lap.

We decided to get chicks when our dogue de Bordeaux got sick, and actually ended up getting the first set 1.5 weeks before she passed.
They’ve been a great distraction!

I work as a registered nurse at a local level II trauma hospital. And yet I feel a little dumb when it comes to my chicks.
They bigs are still inside in a giant basin for the night, where they sleep on rice hulls.
My husband or I take the big girls out to our coop during the day to let them run and get exercise. Because my parents chickens would often get mauled, we have been hesitant to move them out until we know our coop is defended like Fort Knox. Happy to hear any suggestions!
I’ve only today cleaned their basin out with Clorox wipes. Previously we just change their rice hulls every day or every other day, and the basin itself has been hosed out and let to dry twice. Maybe Thrice.

Hobbies? Well I guess it’s now chickens. I have two small children and work in a hospital so I’m too exhausted to have hobbies anymore, but maybe as my kids get older I’ll find the time
We all know that’s a lie until they can safely drive themselves.

Any way, happy to hear any tips and tricks, and looking forward to learning a lot here.

Including a picture of our coop and our girls!
Thank you for reading!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, Rebecca and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Dr Evy]

Welcome to BYC Rebecca. We’re so glad you joined!

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC, Rebecca. I will not lie, that coop isn't big enough, It doesn't have enough ventilation to keep your flock healthy, and It isn't going to be sturdy enough to keep many predators out.
How do you feel about investing in a shed and converting it to a coop?

 

[Cold-Blood]

Welcome to BYC Rebecca!
If you haven't done this already, I would install a hardware cloth apron dug down 18 inches around their coop and run, to keep critter s from getting in.
Also, just in case, chicken wire will keep chickens in, but predators can get through it if they are determined.
Happy chickening!

 

[Fuchsia]

Hello
Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Flappy Bird]

Welcome!

 

[Grammy60]

Hello Rebecca and welcome to BYC So happy you have joined our flock.

 

[Rebecca1219]

Welcome to BYC Rebecca!
If you haven't done this already, I would install a hardware cloth apron dug down 18 inches around their coop and run, to keep critter s from getting in.
Also, just in case, chicken wire will keep chickens in, but predators can get through it if they are determined.
Happy chickening!

Thank you so much!
We are planning on installing hardware cloth about two feet down all the way around before the big girls move in the beginning of July (they’ll be about 6 weeks old then)

 

[DobieLover]

Hello Rebecca, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I have to agree with @janiedoe about your coop size. It's too small and poorly designed for ventilation. You can try to give it a go by increasing ventilation but it will be very difficult to do so without creating drafts on roosted birds during cold months. You could modify the coop portion to go all the way to the ground to give more vertical height for ventilation at the top.

apron dug down 18 inches

Aprons are not dug down. Aprons are spread out on the surface of the ground and pinned at the opposite end from the coop and run. But that is certainly a security feature you should give to the setup.
There should be no holes anywhere in the setup that are greater than a 1/2" to keep small predators from gaining entrance and larger predators from being able to get a grip with their mouths to pull the wire off. I would also consider putting a solid roof over the run portion and make the entire setup your coop. Then either attach electrified poultry netting to make a larger pen area off to he coop or build another, larger covered run, shooting for 15 sq ft of space per bird.