New leghorns

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Today was their first full day of freedom. They figured out how to walk pretty quickly. Between my neighbours and my 12 there are 50 total birds. They haven't figured out the nesting boxes but are laying! A total of 40 eggs today. The neighbours ' grandkids had a blast "easter" egg hunting trying to find where the eggs were laid. One is already trying to fly.
It looks like they're going to adapt well. ☺

 

[apryl29]

Thanks for the advice. As this is a last minute deal we haven't started to build our coop. Our neighbours are letting us use their old coop until we get ours built. They had a system bath today (first in their lives) but due to my work schedule I haven't had a chance to really inspect them. I'll be able to do that tomorrow. We're thinking of converting a shed (probably 6x8) with an outdoor run of 18x18x18. Does that sound about right or should we go with a larger building?

The oyster shell and grit should be in the side and not added to their food?

IMO your coop and run size will be fine for the number of birds you have. Do you mean 18 ft x 18 ft x 18 inches tall for the run? 18 inches seems short to me, I'd do at least 3', but 4' would be better esp w/ 18' of space, they will run and fly.

I have 14 (used to be 16) in an 8x8 coop w/ a 8x14 run that I added another 10x22 run space to. I used 4ft chicken wire, so if I need to go into the run and don't have to crawl through chicken poop, though I have had to anyway.

I keep my oyster shell and grit separated, though I do toss my crushed up shells back into their feed. They pick it out if they want it. I didn't feel like paying a ton for the expensive chicken feed containers so I just got a couple larger dog food dishes from the dollar store for their feed & a 2 sided cat food dish that I put the oyster shell and grit into.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Actually I meant 18 on 3 sides with the coop on the 4th. The run will be 5 feet high which means I'll still have to stoop but it won't be too bad.

 

[apryl29]

Actually I meant 18 on 3 sides with the coop on the 4th. The run will be 5 feet high which means I'll still have to stoop but it won't be too bad.

Lol OK. That makes so much more sense!
Mine's 4 ft & I wish I'd made it taller.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Here's some pics of our girls. They're temporarily in a shed that our neighbours loaned us. We're having a shed of our own delivered tomorrow that we're going to get set up asap. The shed they're in right now is disgustingly dirty. They weren't the best at cleaning up after the hens they had in there before.

Right now they're not roosting and don't want to go outside. They started laying almost right away. There's been 13 eggs in the past 36 hours with one eaten.

 

[apryl29]

That poor 1/2 naked bird! It sounds like they're doing good. Outside is probably foreign to them being that they were commercial birds. Given the option, they'll eventually warm up to the idea of going outside. My birds took a while to figure out that outside was a good thing when we moved them out to the coop. Maybe bring them some grass clippings to get them interested. If it's hot out then they may prefer to stay inside in the shade. Not sure about roosting. Mine only seem interested in that when it's bed time.