HELP! New chicken owner!

[dawnieworld]

Okay, so I am now the proud owner of 6 of the cutest hens I've ever seen : )). They are now about 6-8 weeks old and we are still in the middle of building their run. They are currently living in my garage, in their coop. I am starting to get nervous that they will soon be exposed to the elements. They all have their feathers so I think they will be alright but should I keep the light in the coop for a little extra warmth??? I am in New Hampshire and it is still pretty chilly at night. Regardless of the weather do most of you keep a dim light on for your chickens at night??? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on the design of the run. Right now we are in the middle of building a run made of 4 foot high chain link. We weren't planning on enclosing the whole area but possibly making a small enclosure within the run so that they can still go out when we are not home.
What is your experience with predators during the daylight hours??? Should I just bite the bullet and always keep them enclosed???

Someone tell me what to do!! I want to do right by the girls...they are afterall family now.

Thanks in advance for all your help! Sorry for all the questions.

 

[2txmedics]

Calm down!!! and welcome....lol

Ok, this is our coop and we made it out of left over trashed fencing....


ventitlation all across the front of the coop, and behind this are roost so they see across the yard.
then attached to that coop is a dog kennel run....

added Deep Litter

Side doors for airing out and collecting eggs

And this is what we ended up with:

and we have a wire cover over the top of the run connected to the coop. You will notice it has a door which is a privacy fence gate with the org. latch lock...so I can close my coop if I want too, I have a few times with very bad storms. I crack it open about 5" when its raining so they can go in and out also. THE TIN THERE IS NOT ATTACHED...I WAS GOING TO USE IT AND DIDNT.

In winter, we are in south texas....we're not suppose to get that cold, but we did this year down to 19 a few times, we put a red light out there, the chicken will keep themselves warm also just have ventitaltion for them to breathe.
We kept a normal light on at night, but they crowed all night, so we changed to a red bulb. Helped alittle more.

 

[Dogfish]

Give them room to run, cover the top of their run with wire for protection. Dig wire 1'+ into the ground around their coop/run or put hardware cloth out a foot or so out from the side of the fence (recent convert on this) to prevent digging. They are much tougher than you give them credit for.

That said, I moved my 5 week old CX into the main run today from the brooder, and they don't know how to climb a ramp, so I picked them up and placed each of my future dinners in the coop myself. The things we do for our chickens.

 

[emvickrey]

I keep a heat lamp on at night as long as it's chilly. I figure if i'm chilly so are they. When it warms up the light will come out. In the coldest days and nights of winter, I still provide ours with a heat lamp. They get moved to a smaller enclosure temporarily because our coldest days aren't long. And we put a heat lamp aimed at their water so it don't freeze. They can hang out under or near the light for warmth if they choose to. That is for all my chickens. The chicks are usualy kept inside till they are feathered then they go out in the tractor because it holds heat the best and the run part is covered so they don't get the cold wind blown inside.

I suggest covering their run so the flying predators can't just scoop up dinner and take off with it. I don't let any free range under 2 months old. Hawks can still carry them off but they would be more of a challenge than a small chick.

Burying the wire in the ground like Dogfish said to keep out the ground dwellers. Depending on where you live, watch out for snakes also. We've already killed several. WE live in the country on the edge of the woods. WE have coyote,, fox, bob cat, mink, raccoons, snakes, hawks, eagles ( in winter), owls, and the list goes on. The smaller they are the easier it is for predators to pick them off. At night anything can do what ever to them because they won't fight do much more than make a racket. I also have on my coop a storm door that goes on a house. We put a hasp on it and use a heavy lock to secure the chickens inside. They have a smaller door on the other side to let them out to free range. It also has a lock and hasp on it. Actually almost all our pens have a hasp and lock. The other 3 have the hook latch but it also locks in place. They have the little metal thingy that has to be pulled back to unlatch it.

As far as light at night. We have a security light at night to deter predators and so we can see if there are any. We've had to go out at all hours of the night to see what the ruckus was all about. We can be attacked by coyote or bob cat ourselves so we have to be careful. There's talk about big foot being out back too but i've never seen one. lolThat i'm not worried about it's the critters with fangs I worry about. Ol Bigfoot will run anyway.

Having a light on at night will make your roosters if you have any crow through the night. Mine do anyway. They take a couple hours break but they are at it before it gets daylight.

Mine refuse to sleep on the roost. They prefer to pile together in the nesting areas. Last night there where 1 hen and 2 2 1/2 month old pullets in one next box and about 4 pullets on top of it and the roo, Sir Charles had half his body in the nest box with his wife. The kids decided to scoot him out of their box (bed). How familiar is that. lol. On the other side are the EE's and one sleeps on the ladder that is along the nesting shelf while the rest are practically piled on top each other in a corner. It must be a security issue because they have plenty of room to spread out.

The chicks do the same thing. They pile up where you don't know where one starts and the other ends.

 

[dumb_cluck]

If you or someone else is home during the day, then let them out. You can supervise the activity that way. If you or someone is NOT there during the day, I would lock them up where it is totally safe.

Personally, I like to supervise and watch 'em. I do so with my ducks now.

 

[SillyChicken]

looks like she does have wire over the top.

Great job coming up with your coop on the fly!