Hi Mom! Got treats?

[SeonaidsEarth]

I am in love with these seven little people. I ordered six chickens and three weeks ago 8 arrived. One was very weak and didn't make it. Broke my damn heart. The other fluff balls have entertained us daily, brought new enthusiasm for life to my octogenarian parents, and I am learning about chickens at a cracking pace. Bought a prefab chicken coop months before the chicks arrived. Gotta be prepared right?? Once they got to three weeks old, I realised I didn't know just how big these tiny raptors would get. It is more of a parakeet coop. Not sure if I have any recourse? It was from Tractor Supply for "up to 6 chickens". Well maybe, if the chickens went through a shrink ray. In all my reading I have learned the perch is so small it will hurt their feet, and the coop could hold maybe three bantams at most. So I am now under pressure to design and build a coop. Have bought and connected two 8 x 8 pens for the run - steel pens that even a bear cannot get into. Apparently. According to someone who watched a bear try to get into one! Now I am designing and building a 4x8 coop. Learning house framing and rafter pitch calculations at lightning speed because these little cuties are growing FAST. They are confident, smart, affectionate, and so full of expression. My Bassett hound barked at them the other day. Not one feather was ruffled. They just cocked their heads and gave him that WTF attitude chickens are so good at! It is exhilirating being on this learning curve.

 

[Callender Girl]

Sounds like you're experiencing a pretty sharp learning curve Loved your references to "parakeet coop" and "shrink ray". While some pre-fab coops are worth the money, many oversell and under-deliver. Of my three pre-fabs, only the one in my avatar is really securely built (It withstood a storm that dropped half a mature oak tree on the roof) and big enough to really house the number of birds was said to. Also, it would have been more expensive than I could afford if I hadn't bought it second hand off Craigslist from someone who wanted to expand her flock.

On the other hand, wheee! You have great baby chicks that are entertaining and adorable! And, thanks to those little beauties, you are expanding your real-world skills!

 

[Ryguy3684]

I made the same mistake with a prefab coop when I started with chickens. I assembled the "8-10 chicken coop", and thought no way. It wouldn't fit 3 of my chickens when full grown. I built a coop from a shed and have been much happier. I ended up selling the prefab on Facebook to recoup some of my money. Someone needed it for a secondary coop. If you can sell it, to get some money back, that'd be great. If not, you could ways use it as an infirmary coop for sick birds. It's a shame the coop manufacturers do this, but I'm glad you are going to build a proper coop. I know what you mean about the chicks being a fun obsession. They're more entertaining than any movie or TV show out there.