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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
My14girls said:
Yes we do.
The girls are 4 weeks old.
We live in Wisconsin and are wondering when are they d enough to go into the coop?
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You can brood them in the coop how with a brooder plate.
How large is your coop and run?
 
Welcome to BYC!
:jumpy
 
N F C said:
:welcome

Hi, congrats on getting a flock! Do you have their coop built?
Click to expand...

DobieLover said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

You can brood them in the coop how with a brooder plate.
How large is your coop and run?
Click to expand...

The coop is about 3 feet by 3 feet plus 6 10 by 10 nesting boxes. Haven't figured out the run yet as we will have them in the garage when it snows. Right now its putting 2 dog kennels end to end to let them forage outside.
Here's a dumb question: Will the chicks who are almost 5 weeks know where to go back in the kennel or can you not let them free range when they are so young ?
Just don't want them to wander and not be able to wrangle them back.
 
My14girls said:
The coop is about 3 feet by 3 feet plus 6 10 by 10 nesting boxes.
Click to expand...
Uh... Houston? We have a problem.

Unfortunately your coop is far too small to house 14 hens. It's big enough for about 2-3. You need about 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and that does not include the nest box area. 14 birds would need 3 nest boxes.
The run should be a minimum of 140 additional sq ft.
My14girls said:
Will the chicks who are almost 5 weeks know where to go back in the kennel or can you not let them free range when they are so young ?
Click to expand...
When you put the chicks in the coop/run combo, leave them in it for a week before letting them free range. When you start, open the door about 2 hours before roost time. They won't wander far at first. Once they gain confidence they will venture further.
 
DobieLover said:
Uh... Houston? We have a problem.

Unfortunately your coop is far too small to house 14 hens. It's big enough for about 2-3. You need about 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and that does not include the nest box area. 14 birds would need 3 nest boxes.
The run should be a minimum of 140 additional sq ft.

When you put the chicks in the coop/run combo, leave them in it for a week before letting them free range. When you start, open the door about 2 hours before roost time. They won't wander far at first. Once they gain confidence they will venture further.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. When we finally got the coop put together we got that idea that we will in no way be able to put all of those gals into that coop.....ugh! Can ya tell we're newbies?
Now we will start to look for a bigger coop for the gals.
Thanks again!
 

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