Should I just admit defeat?

[bobbi-j]

My only advice is, get the largest one you can build or afford. You can’t have too much room, but not enough is a problem. Especially if you live where it gets cold in the winter and your birds are spending the majority of their time indoors.

I just looked and see that you are from TN, so cold weather isn’t a problem for your birds. I’d still go as big as I can.

 

[CHlCKEN]

So minor living with parents scenario?
Was it wholly the parents idea and decision to get chickens,
both the original birds and the 4 new ones?
It's very difficult for us to give you solid advice in such a situation.

Our original flock had 4 SSs back in 2017. We lost 2 and added 10 BRs to our very large run, using a horse stall as a coop. We lost many of those on a shady day when the solar powered electric fence failed. So we had 4 layers, a brand new omlet chicken run and a snap loc. Then unexpectedly one of the BRs passed away within 4 hours of showing symptoms (we culled her she was dying quickly but painfully) then we had 3 layers- almost no egg income. Then our SS got very sick and stopped laying. We had 2 layers but 3 hens. We needed more layers so we placed an order for 3 chicks so our laying hens would be up to 6, and assuming that the SS would die, we thought we would have just 5 hens to deal with we received not 3 but 4 chicks in the mail and when our SS survived we had 2 more birds than originally expected. So now we have 7 chickens and a coop meant for 4.
It was completely of my parents descicion to get chickens the first time, I personally didn’t know anything about chickens and when I saw 4 brown chicks rather than the yellow chicks I thought I would see, I was confused. But I learned more over the past 3 years and this time, it was of my my whole family who decided to get chickens. I took my part and was the one who chose our breeds and hatchery. As the chickens are like pets to me and the family, it is like rehoming a dog or a cat.

 

[CHlCKEN]

So minor living with parents scenario?
Was it wholly the parents idea and decision to get chickens,
both the original birds and the 4 new ones?
It's very difficult for us to give you solid advice in such a situation.

Tonight as I was doing the last after dark chores, I passed by the coop and wanted to see where they were all sleeping, Indigo, my to perfect Orpington was in the coop on the roost (she went in there by herself!!!) while the other three were roosting on the branch ladder propped against the coop. i Didn’t put them in since I had my phone and an Apple (for the birthday horse) but I was at least satisfied that Indigo did a good thing. Should I lead myself to believe that the other 3 will catch on and follow the 4 other chickens into the coop? I hope that is the case, although I do like that they are not all squished in the coop, I’m glad they are sleeping where and as they wish

 

[CHlCKEN]

Trap and kill them.

I couldn’t do that, I have a barn cat who would be killed by the traps. It would be much to dangerous to even attempt it though because this cat could easily get back out even if she was kept inside. This omlet run has never had any predators hack it but they always try, it worries me that the chicks could be stolen through the bars- even if they don’t fit they could be squeezed through. We also have rabbits and baby rabbits, who make their nests adjacent to the coop so any trap would kill them instead.

 

[LaFleche]

The Coop I have is not actually Omlet, it’s a snap loc.

I looked it up on the homepage and you can definitely see that even for the standard hybrid hen the roof of the coop is much too low for the hens to roost comfortably.

This might work for 3-4 bantams but not for normal sized chickens.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's not fair to wild animals to wag free food in front of them, and then complain and kill them when they try to eat it (re: "just kill it" type of comments). Remember, we are on their land, not the other way around. Making your coop and run predator-proof is the best way. If the run can't be predator-proofed, then the chickens need to sleep in a predator-proof coop, but from the description it sounds like your run is fine, too. You can cut a piece of hardware cloth and affix it to the run fencing immediately around the branch end where they like to sleep, and make it only as big as you need to, to make sure a raccoon hand can't reach the chickens. That way you protect the vulnerable area at the branch's end, but without using up too much hardware cloth.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Coop is too small for the 7 birds, let alone a human


Then time to sell a few birds.
How old are these birds, in weeks or months?

A 3 yro, 2 2 yros, and 4 14 week olds. I’m currently coop shopping, and with Christmas around the corner I think we might be able to save our little flock. We were not meaning to have 7, only 5. Our 3yro was sick and nearly died, and when she survived that upped the numbers to 6, then we received an extra which upped it to 7! While the coop is ok for 4-5 birds I wouldn’t say it’s ok for 7. I fully agree that rehoming would be better if we couldn’t up our coop size, but I think that I might have been able to salvage some hope- how are these coops?
could we go for something like this? Is it large enough? I’m saying the large or the medium (I am notsaying I want this coop exactly but I am asking if the sizes are ok)

I do hope you understand that I am not in charge of this matter when it comes to coop upsizing and chicken selling, I only can suggest these things and see my opinion come as far as it can. I would not be able to fully promise that the coop I see fit is the coop we get, but my understanding is that this coop is not good enough for our chickens and I must Do what I canto fix the situation

 

[CHlCKEN]

That would be perfect if you can afford it! Roomy and beautiful. I don't see any vents, but you can cut some out if necessary.

Of course the price is... scary. But there are lots of options identical to this that come at a less terrifying price. I like this coop and seems to be a match for my girls

 

[Jnamram]

We just built a bigger hen house so we went through the process of moving our flock each evening into the new coop from the old coop. What ultimately worked is I put a blue tarp over the old hen house close to sunset so they couldn’t go into the old hen house. After 1 week of transporting by hand at sunset and 3 days using the tarp and waiting to watch them go into the new hen house at sunset, they began going into the new coop on their own.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Are they protected from the weather and predators when out on the branch? Is this branch in a chicken run or out where they free range? If it's in the run then remove the branch. Is your coop ventilated enough? Large enough? Can they see the roosting bar in the evening to get on it?

It’s a branch I put in the run to roost on in the summer. The chicks took to it and wouldn’t leave. When I took it down the first time they slept on the ground under it, which worried me. The raccoons climb on the coop at night though, so my worry is that one of my babies would be pulled through the bars while she’s sleeping. It’s a snap-loc coop, not large enough for my 7 girls but my parents don’t want to buy anything else so it’s what we’re working with. I have the third roosting bar set on the lowest for them.