Help with Red Rangers

[NewbieChickster]

So is it normal for them to run up on each other and go chest to chest with each other. It's like their cock fighting, but no one get's hurt. They do this when the other isn't even looking. Also, I took them out to the coop today for about an hour so I could clean the other cage I had them in and the one has developed a sneeze. Is he sick? Do I need to treat him? Or was he cold and will it go away when he warms back up? What should I use to treat him? Oh my word these are more work than my actual children.

 

[ejcrist]

So is it normal for them to run up on each other and go chest to chest with each other. It's like their cock fighting, but no one get's hurt. They do this when the other isn't even looking. Also, I took them out to the coop today for about an hour so I could clean the other cage I had them in and the one has developed a sneeze. Is he sick? Do I need to treat him? Or was he cold and will it go away when he warms back up? What should I use to treat him? Oh my word these are more work than my actual children.

You're tellin' me. Don't know about the sneeze but mine do that occasionally too. I cleaned their pens yesterday which I do every 3 days at the latest. I think every 2 days would be better. Anyway, I normally leave them in the pens since there's plenty of room in there so I can scoop the bedding out and toss in new. Problem was, after I removed the old bedding, well more like cakes of poop, they kept squirting poop on the linoleum I used to cover the wood before I could put down any new bedding. Eventually I gave up and just threw the new bedding in the pens regardless. I don't understand how a living animal can poop that much without withering away to nothing. I mean the volume of poop seems like it exceeds what they take in, or at least it seems that way. I guess that's not physically possible though. I need to start a new compost bin this weekend because I'm running out of space.

 

[NewbieChickster]

Okay. It's been a couple of days since my first post and of course they have grown. I need to get them out of the house and out of the cage they are in. I put them in the coop for about an hour yesterday and they were eating everything they could find on the ground. I saw a potato bug go down for sure. I also put their food and water in while I was cleaning their cage. They had no interest in using the roosting bars or making their way up to the coop. I placed one upstairs and she or he found it's way down immediately.

After about 50 minutes outside in about 68 degree weather, one of the chickens developed a sneeze. I say develop, because I hadn't noticed it until then and I was watching them for quite some time. I put them back in their cage and brought them back in and even put them slightly by the heat lamp just in case warming it back up would help. I haven't been watching it, but when I went to feed them this morning, I didn't notice any of them sneezing.

As I said, they need to get out of our house. So I desperately want to put them in the coop full time, but with temps dropping to 40 something at night still, I am scared they won't make it. We have a pool shed. Should I put them out in their cage in that until it gets a bit warmer. I am also paranoid about predators. I am in general, a paranoid person if you can't tell. Chickens were probably not a good idea for me. I always hated the idea of outdoor animals and would never keep a dog or cat outside. I know these aren't pets, but I don't want to see a hawk, turkey buzzard, fox, bear, or raccoon hurt one either.