My custom coop arrived and it was wrong :(

[neo71665]

We get down to the 30s here and I've never ran a heater. I do have a water heater on a timer that runs for a few hours every morning.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I know, the local "chicken people" I trust have all said not to put them out in 30 degree weather without supplemental heat.

My 4 week old are outside right now in 30 degree weather. They're running around, flying,having a blast. 7-8 weeks I had already taken the heat away from my others and they were in 20 degree weather.

 

[Susan-B]

My 4 week old are outside right now in 30 degree weather. They're running around, flying,having a blast. 7-8 weeks I had already taken the heat away from my others and they were in 20 degree weather.

Maybe we have wimpy chickens here LOL the place I got them from said that they had some that suffocated each other because they piled on top of one another when it was cold out

 

[Mamatomany123]

Maybe we have wimpy chickens here LOL the place I got them from said that they had some that suffocated each other because they piled on top of one another when it was cold out

They may pile on one another because I will be a mew place and chickens dont like change butni think theyll be fine with the temperature

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I know, the local "chicken people" I trust have all said not to put them out in 30 degree weather without supplemental heat.

listen to the local people they already made all the mistakes, no need to try to re-do all the learning yourself

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you pull the inner wall out and use the entire structure as the coop?

Maybe temporarily tack plywood (or even tarps), over the short walls while turning the all-wire wall away from the prevailing winds?

This is what I'd do. Or if you want to shortcut even more... run roosts across the open space in the run instead (heck, even put in a couple saw horses as temporary roosts if you don't want to build anything) and tarp/cover a bit of the wire walls around the "roost" area (not ALL of it, you need light and ventilation), and call it a day.

It certainly won't work for long term but for short term and minimal effort, that should do the trick.

 

[rebecca1walker]

Ordered a custom coop through a local feed store, but when it was delivered we realized they forgot to do half of the things we requested, and messed up a couple of the other things, so they picked it up today. Now I have 10 homeless chickens :-/. Probably going to have to buy a TEMPORARY set up until we can get or build what we want. This is what I can get a hold of this week (the owner was super nice about speeding things up for me). I do want to have a much larger coop area for my permanent set up, so if anyone has some good plans they can point me to for a 6x6 or 6x8 coop Id appreciate it (or a place I can purchase one this isn't insanely expensive) My hopes is to add onto this coop/run so I don’t work have to waste money. I also need to buy an automatic door

thanks
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My father builds custom chicken coops.

 

[stvcoops]

Look up playhouses on Craigslist or FB marketplace. Most of the time they are giving away little houses. They may serve the purpose in the meantime until you can get the coop you want. Also sometimes businesses give a way wood crates too that can be repurposed.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Look up playhouses on Craigslist or FB marketplace. Most of the time they are giving away little houses. They may serve the purpose in the meantime until you can get the coop you want. Also sometimes businesses give a way wood crates too that can be repurposed.

Yep, our coop is a playhouse that we added on to. Got the playhouse for free and it was the coop for a while before we added on.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

Yep, our coop is a playhouse that we added on to. Got the playhouse for free and it was the coop for a while before we added on.

darn! I knew someone giving one away just when I needed the first henhouse and it never even dawned on me that I could put the hens in.