Slightly panicked: Starting to build our Coop...just got 13 Chicks!!!

[electrycmonk]

There's another person who recommended using the fridge/washer appliance box for usage.... You can see how I've cut them up for inside our dog crates that we already had from our rescued dogs a few years back.

Lowe's is fantastic about letting you get the boxes from their appliance delivery runs for free.

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I think I may have posted build progress! Here's the final result:

Thanks for those pics!

 

[CrazyTownChick]

Ha! You're me!! (Well... more specifically your husband is me.) We got 8 birds from TSC, armed with a fair bit of research, and zero experience. After only a couple weeks, they outgrew the bins, so I ended up building a makeshift 'run' in the garage, by putting a piece of plywood down, adding 4 corner posts and a top rail, (to keep them from falling inward), and running 2' of chicken wire around it. I spread a bail of shavings on the floor, added their lamp, feeder and water. Viola. It was terrible construction, but it was a secure 4x8 area, while the main coop got built. Good luck!

Thanks, that is a lot like what we’ve done. They seem very happy, for now, in the 3 x 5 foot wood frame and hardware cloth brooder my husband made very quickly. We also went to Lowe’s and got plastic poultry fencing to make an outdoor, in the grass, mini run for them. They LOVE it. So I take them out for a few hours at a time and bring them back to their brooder in the garage for the evening . I have to grab the pics off my phone...

 

[CrazyTownChick]

You will need a bigger container with a wire cover at around a month and a 100 watt bulb hanging over it with a cheap metal shade on a porcelain socket since they get hot. Mine went outside at six weeks - too messy for the box I had and too much dust in the garage.

I think I posted later on this thread that we built a new brooder with 2 x 4s and hardware cloth. It’s 3 x 5 ft and 3 ft high with hardware cloth cover. Pretty roomy for 13 even with feeder, waterer, dust bath trays etc. Since they’re in the garage and it’s been hot here (95 today) we’re not using a heat lamp, we’re trying to cool down, slightly, the garage. It’s in the 80’s mostly. They seem VERY happy in the new setup, especially because we’re also spending a couple hours outside on the grass in a temp pen. So we’re lugging away on the coop...DH made some serious progress today. Should be move in ready within 3 weeks.

 

[CrazyTownChick]

You will need a bigger container with a wire cover at around a month and a 100 watt bulb hanging over it with a cheap metal shade on a porcelain socket since they get hot. Mine went outside at six weeks - too messy for the box I had and too much dust in the garage.

I think I posted later on this thread that we built a new brooder with 2 x 4s and hardware cloth. It’s 3 x 5 ft and 3 ft high with hardware cloth cover. Pretty roomy for 13 even with feeder, watered, dust bath trays etc. Since they’re in the garage and it’s been hot here (95 today) we’re not using a heat lamp, we’re trying to cool down, slightly, the garage. They seem VERY happy in the new setup, especially because we’re also spending a couple hours outside on the grass in a temp pen. So we’re plugging away on the coop...DH made some serious progress today. Should be move in ready within 3 weeks.
I don’t know why these posted sideways, the pictures are not. Oh well.

 

[CrazyTownChick]

Can you post more pics of the Coop Build Project? I'm a bit concerned about you using 2x4's as the corner posts for your Coop. Can't tell from the pic, but are they Pressure Treated 2x4's?

Sorry I misspoke, for the corner posts we’re using 4 x 4s - I will verify that with DH but they are definitely not 2 x 4’s . Yes pressure treated. Thanks! Will post more info tomorrow, I’m tired!happy tired!

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I love our ameraucanas. They are a nice breed. Good eggs. We had 6 ameraucanas for quite awhile and I added 12 chicks this spring, not thinking of the repercussions to our existing house and run. So, with 10 sq ft of run per chicken and 4 sq ft of chicken house needed, we scrambled. Our 8x12’ run had an additional 96 sq ft added and we lowered a floor and added exterior nesting boxes to our house.

I would say to make sure your chickens have a lot to do. We added a platform with ladders on either side with a swing and veggie ball, a java tree (that was from our parrot stand)-with another veggie ball, a grass box, a bird bath, a tire for dirt baths, a chicken pecking block, a tree stump, and perches around the run. I planted a taller yew shrub in the pen and for the most part they leave it alone. Also, we got some treat balls. Great fun to watch!

There are some very good ideas out there. I found some on YouTube. This is also a great forum with very helpful chicken parents. Keep your engineer husband busy. My husband has been very busy changing and expanding things for our girls.

One thought, when choosing chickens this time around I looked for gentle breeds (Cochins, Polish, Buckeye, Maran, and more Ameraucanas) as we had one chicken that kept getting picked on. Bluekote helped. Some of your breeds are more aggressive than others so your pecking order will require a lot of things to keep them entertained. My husband put in 4x4s, spaced about 1’ from the edge, to give the younger chickens places to run and hide, as well.

Thank you — those are all great ideas! I think toys and thinks for them to peck at , so they are occupied and don’t peck so much at each other makes a lot of sense. Good food for thought as we build, and selecting breeds in the future. Thanks!

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I have a brooder that I just moved our 3 week olds out of. You’re welcome to use it. It’s a crate about 3 1/2’ x 2 1/2’ with 3’ sides.

That’s very kind of you - think we’re all set now, but thanks!

 

[CrazyTownChick]

I love our ameraucanas. They are a nice breed. Good eggs. We had 6 ameraucanas for quite awhile and I added 12 chicks this spring, not thinking of the repercussions to our existing house and run. So, with 10 sq ft of run per chicken and 4 sq ft of chicken house needed, we scrambled. Our 8x12’ run had an additional 96 sq ft added and we lowered a floor and added exterior nesting boxes to our house.

I would say to make sure your chickens have a lot to do. We added a platform with ladders on either side with a swing and veggie ball, a java tree (that was from our parrot stand)-with another veggie ball, a grass box, a bird bath, a tire for dirt baths, a chicken pecking block, a tree stump, and perches around the run. I planted a taller yew shrub in the pen and for the most part they leave it alone. Also, we got some treat balls. Great fun to watch!

There are some very good ideas out there. I found some on YouTube. This is also a great forum with very helpful chicken parents. Keep your engineer husband busy. My husband has been very busy changing and expanding things for our girls.

One thought, when choosing chickens this time around I looked for gentle breeds (Cochins, Polish, Buckeye, Maran, and more Ameraucanas) as we had one chicken that kept getting picked on. Bluekote helped. Some of your breeds are more aggressive than others so your pecking order will require a lot of things to keep them entertained. My husband put in 4x4s, spaced about 1’ from the edge, to give the younger chickens places to run and hide, as well.

.....and Bluekote, what’s that?

 

[jeanette bettis]

Yes, we know this is bass-ackwards; we got the cart before the horse or the chicks before the coop. Whatever. But Friday afternoon we brought home from Tractor Supply, 13 two-weekish old chicks and set them up all happy in the brooder (4 x 2.5 ft metal trough). Oh are they hilarious to watch. Such personalities!

We had watched a gazillion videos on coop building and read as many articles, so we have been developing and planning for about 7-9 months. Dear Hubby is an engineer, so he does a lot more planning and thinking and planning and thinking before picking up a hammer and saw. We purchased lots of lumber and OSBs. And more saws and tools. We have the initial coop frame in placed, leveled and ready for the build. Now we are MOTIVATED.

Coop will be 8 x 8, with a 8 x 20 foot run. We live in the country on a 20 acre farm (no livestock), so space and zoning is not an issue.

We figure we have about 6 weeks before we NEED to get them into the coop, even if still in the brooder within the coop. Maybe that's not an accurate guesstimate. ??One concern I have -- will 13 chicks outgrow the brooder before 6 weeks is up? I'm thinking yes. They're already very active, flap around, and cuddle a lot, but I know they grow fast. I could see them growing so fast they'll need to be separated or something before the coop's ready. We might have to make a 2nd makeshift brooder. I don't know what do you think? All pullets allegedly.
We have:

• 1 Rhode Island Red
• 1 Production Red (similar to RI Red? Not sure)
• 2 Amauracanas
• 3 CA white leghorns
• 3 Isa Browns
• 3 Golden Sexlinks (cross of Golden Campine? Not sure)

So that's our little flock. They are adorable, of course. Funny as heck. Hopefully I can attach some pix. Thoughts? Advice? Back in May I introduced myself as a newby in KY, new farm owners & retirees, with hopes and dreams of getting chickens. And here we are.
I read somewhere that the wood shavings were not good for babies, as they might eat it and die. No chances for me . I use timothy grass