Well, the coop and chicken house are finally finished and tonight is the very first night my two babies are sleeping outside. I am so nervous! My two sweet hens are only 8 wks old (they have been living in my garage). One is Nugget and the other one is named Red. This weekend I plan on getting a few more chicks for my garage until they are old enough to go out. I know we have made a very safe house but I just love those two and will cry my head off if they get hurt!
It is so hard to put them out for their first night. I remember going out multiple times the first night to check on them to make sure they were alright and for several nights after that. I occasionally still go out to check, just because......
I'm halfway done with my coop and while I'm anxious to get my girls out of my laundry room (for which they're WAY too big) I'm nervous too. We have already lost two chicks -- one to a racoon and one to a hawk. The first time the girls were free ranging for a few minutes by themselves, and the second we left the top off the moveable pen after dusk. Preventable mistakes that I hope we've all learned from. It's making me very conscious of building our coop safe though, and lots of people who have good coops don't have any losses to predators. Good luck, and post pics of your coop if you can. Sioux
Hang in there!!! I just put my six week-old, 21 baby Banties outside two days ago and know exactly what you are feeling. It's called being a good mom/dad. I didn't sleep the night before I knew we were moving them outside and I haven't slept real good since...not because of any troubles, just because....