New to chickens in Southwest Colorado

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Little Coop on Salt Creek

Little Coop on Salt Creek

Songster
9 Years
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
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438
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371
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Location
Southwest Colorado
Hello!
We are new to chickens, but are very excited to be on the adventure. We are building an 8x8 chicken coop that is on a concrete foundation and a 24 foot enclosed run with a roof. We are planning to let our girls free range when we are out and about to keep an eye on things. We live out on a lot of acres, so they have plenty of space to get "snatched up" if a close eye isn't on them. We are hoping to be able to keep enough eggs in our kitchen without having to continue buying them at the grocery store.
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The hope is to have variety in our flock; would love personality, but with 3 kiddos and a mama who has never raised chickens before we are also hoping for sweet and docile too!

We are pretty committed to an outside brooding system, hoping to keep it in the coop. Was going to use a spare metal dog crate or a combo with metal crate along with our smaller plastic crates. I just hope we can keep them warm enough! Looking forward to the wealth of information this group has to offer. Hope to chat with some of you soon. :0)
 
Hi Abc, welcome to the threads!

Depending on what altitude you are at and what season you are in, brooding outside can work really well. For me, I like to keep them inside for the first few weeks, especially for the first hatch of the year.

Are you going to use a brooder plate or make a Mama heating pad?
 
We are at about 6700 ft, I was planning to use the Mama heating pad. We are also very dry here, not much humidity at all. Thinking that may matter since humidity can make cool temperatures feel very cold.
 
I'm at 5,000 feet and dry, too. Still like to see the littles inside until they get some feathers. I like to make sure they are all eating well, drinking well, and no pasty butt. (Never had that problem, but I like to check.) I also change leg bands frequently as they grow, which is easier inside than having to go outside. Since I work from home and check on them a lot, it's easier for me to have them inside.

I have a Brinsea brooder plate that I'll move out to my coop brooder box tomorrow. We've been re-wiring the coop so these guys have been in longer than usual. (3 weeks). The need to go outside soon!

Unfortunately, my run is not chick-safe since some sections are 2x4 welded wire. Chicks can get through that, and my dog will pounce on them. I'll start working on a separate, secure grow-out area for them next week.

Good luck with your new chicks!
 

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