Huppy1380
Hatching
- Apr 26, 2015
- 1
- 9
- 9
Okay - so here I am.
I'm a new chicken enthusiast in Maryland who recently adopted 6 chicks after much encouragement from some friends and co-workers. We ended up with two RIR's (Tina and Lily), two barred rocks (Edie and Fluffer), and two golden-laced Wyandottes (Patsy and Lady Cluck). They're all about 10 weeks old at this point. So far the two Rocks are by far the friendliest, followed closely by the RIRs. The Wyandotte's can be a little aggressive and aren't particularly friendly with people, but they are VERY curious. Whenever we check on them these two are always front and center to see what's going on.
The biggest challenge we've had thus far is figuring out where they're going to live. I'll admit I had a rough idea of the layout for the coop and run, but hadn't fully researched it before we brought the girls home. The more I looked the more daunting it was looking like it was going to be. Overall, our BIGGEST concern was maintenance. While I'm already in love with our flock, I really didn't want to spend every waking moment tending to them and cleaning up after them. The water dish had quickly become a point of contention as they pooped in it every few minutes or so, making it so we had to change it out completely several times per day. We also started them out in an old dog crate, which they outgrew VERY quickly. In then end we rigged up a storage container from Walmart for the brooder, which worked out very well.
As far as the coop and run, I just put the finishing touches on it this weekend. To avoid having to deal with rotting wood, I opted to make the coop out of a plastic Suncast storage shed from Home Depot. So far it is working out wonderfully. I also made an adjacent 8 x 12 run out of lumber and hardware cloth topped with corrugated plastic, and opted to fork out the big bucks for an automatic door on Amazon. For feeding and watering, I bought some watering nipples and fitted one onto the bottom of an old juice jug, and made a feeder out of 4" PVC pipe. So far I'm not disappointed!
One of the main reasons I signed up for Backyard Chickens is to share my experience converting the plastic shed. I did a lot of research online and, while many people had been asking how to go about this, I actually had a very hard time finding much more. Once I gather all of my thoughts, I'll be posting a separate thread dedicated to how I went about this to perhaps provide some inspiration to others who might be interested inthis option.
I'm a new chicken enthusiast in Maryland who recently adopted 6 chicks after much encouragement from some friends and co-workers. We ended up with two RIR's (Tina and Lily), two barred rocks (Edie and Fluffer), and two golden-laced Wyandottes (Patsy and Lady Cluck). They're all about 10 weeks old at this point. So far the two Rocks are by far the friendliest, followed closely by the RIRs. The Wyandotte's can be a little aggressive and aren't particularly friendly with people, but they are VERY curious. Whenever we check on them these two are always front and center to see what's going on.
The biggest challenge we've had thus far is figuring out where they're going to live. I'll admit I had a rough idea of the layout for the coop and run, but hadn't fully researched it before we brought the girls home. The more I looked the more daunting it was looking like it was going to be. Overall, our BIGGEST concern was maintenance. While I'm already in love with our flock, I really didn't want to spend every waking moment tending to them and cleaning up after them. The water dish had quickly become a point of contention as they pooped in it every few minutes or so, making it so we had to change it out completely several times per day. We also started them out in an old dog crate, which they outgrew VERY quickly. In then end we rigged up a storage container from Walmart for the brooder, which worked out very well.
As far as the coop and run, I just put the finishing touches on it this weekend. To avoid having to deal with rotting wood, I opted to make the coop out of a plastic Suncast storage shed from Home Depot. So far it is working out wonderfully. I also made an adjacent 8 x 12 run out of lumber and hardware cloth topped with corrugated plastic, and opted to fork out the big bucks for an automatic door on Amazon. For feeding and watering, I bought some watering nipples and fitted one onto the bottom of an old juice jug, and made a feeder out of 4" PVC pipe. So far I'm not disappointed!
One of the main reasons I signed up for Backyard Chickens is to share my experience converting the plastic shed. I did a lot of research online and, while many people had been asking how to go about this, I actually had a very hard time finding much more. Once I gather all of my thoughts, I'll be posting a separate thread dedicated to how I went about this to perhaps provide some inspiration to others who might be interested inthis option.
Chicks certainly do grow very quickly as you found out at first. I'm sure they are going to be so happy in their new home it looks great. You could add your coop and how you made it to the coop section, here is the link 
