How to leave 8 week old chicks while on vacation.

[Folly's place]

I'm sorry to sound so harsh here, but it is a very cute but small coop. If your run is totally predator proof, they could be out in the coop and run all the time. More pictures? Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

That coop is at best only large enough for 3 chickens, and even then, you could expect to have some serious problems with agression. If you live in a temperate climate where they can be outdoors in the run EVERY day, and there is not snow or frozen ground in the winter, it might be better, but... I expect you'll have some injured chickens before all is done and said.

 

[The Balcom Clan]

The coop was built as a surprise gift to our family by my father in law. He built it with 3-4 chickens in mind (not having asked us how many we were planning to get - 5).
We are very blessed with his time, effort and thoughtfulness in building this coop for us. He did an amazing job and paid a lot of attention to detail. (to the extent of routering all the edges inside so the chickens or my daughters wouldn't scratch themselves on the sharp corners!) We will do what we need to to make it work, making necessary modifications as possible. I'll be asking for suggestions soon and will include photos of the current design.
We created our transitional brooder tonight and will post photos tomorrow when it's lighter for better photos. We put the chicks in there tonight to see how they'd do and they loved the extra space. I couldn't get their warming box warm enough so we will keep them indoors until I can modify it a bit more. It's all a learning process, right!?

 

[lazy gardener]

Glad to see you're thinking ahead.