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

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning. Just dropped on to see your finished coop. It looks great, however, in case I missed something, I don't see any nesting boxes.

 

[CrazyTownChick]

Good morning. Just dropped on to see your finished coop. It looks great, however, in case I missed something, I don't see any nesting boxes.

Hello! Yes, they're there on either side of the coop beneath the long windows. You can't see them on the pic of the inside of the coop because we covered them with cardboard. I outlined one in blue here. It's bigger than it looks and opens for egg collection on the front, not the top.
On the inside of the coop they're 13 x 11 x 18, four nests in each box. Hopefully that will be comfortable for the girls. One thing we still need to do, is caulk any cracks or openings, which I think there are a couple small openings where the boards and top meet. Need to keep those nesting boxes dark and secure. We're actually planning to do that this week. I can post after pictures when we do.

 

[HENS-and-MARES]

Oh yes they will. I like flighted breeds so they outgrow brooders in about 2 weeks. Even those TSC 150 gallon galvanized things aren't holding chicks for long.

Has it ever happened where their chicks are just flying all over the store?

 

[yakitori]

Hi there, Well I finally got some pics loaded up to my new laptop so I can share them here. (can do it from phone but it never seems to work right) So here are just a couple of them of the coop. We finished it on the 15-16th and moved them in on the evening of the 16th just before a heavy rainstorm blew in! They took to it right away. So far the coop is locked down tight. We have predators that we've been watching for a while on a trail cam facing the coop. A fox. He comes, he circles and sniffs, he doesn't bother digging on the hardware cloth apron and he moves on. Our trail cam has also captured raccoons, a stray dog (with collar), a coyote, tons of deer, an oppossum, wild turkeys, a skunk. Mr. Gray Fox is a regular. Keeping fingers crossed.

The first few nights we "put them to bed" by tapping on the ramp, and even picking them up and putting them on the ramp. After the 3rd night they've been walking up the ramp just before sunset and putting themselves to bed! Love that. Last night we were running behind and when we went out at 8:20 they were all in the coop waiting for us to close the door and take the feed out so the rodents aren't as attracted at night. But we're happy they're doing it on their own. Until we get the automatic coop door installed we're opening in the morning and closing at night. They are MORE than ready to come flying out when we open that door between 7:45-8:15. Right now we're keeping them in the coop 8x8 and run 8x20 all day. In fact, I'm going to go do a supervised free range time, an hour or two, today. The real challenge will be getting them back into the run.

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BTW, we didn't have a well shaded area in our back yard and it's completely hilly, no flat spots (except for the house and shop), so we did build it on a slope, leveled it, and created some additional shade with a sail shade over the roof. And new trees. It'll take a while for the trees to provide shade. The metal roof is the only part we were able to salvage from
an old chicken coop previous owners had in back of the barn. Was a mess, other than the roof, which worked out great for us.

I'd like to hear about your coop and run and how that all went down. It took us 5 whole weeks to build the coop and run. My husband did 90% of the work while trying to finish his full time job and transitioning into part time. Oh it was a Fun, fun time. but we're alive, the chicks are alive and well, and all is well.


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Wow! It looks absolutely stunning! Your coop is practically a chicken resort!

Sorry I didn’t respond earlier - I didn’t get any notifications until today!

My coop is tiny - 4x4x5, a total mess, and nowhere as amazing as yours!
My coop is built into two trees, about 4 ft up from the ground. I tried to keep costs low by using pallets and free recycled wood. In the end, I manage to get most of the material aside from the screw for free, but omg, it took so much effort just taking the pallets apart!

For the run, I got desperate and bought a metal frame coop online... it’s quite ugly, but my birds were almost 8 weeks old at the time when I had barely finished the coop - I needed *something!* and fast! It’s a good thing we don’t have ground predators during the day, so I just needed something to protect the birds from hawks.

annnnnd even now I still need to do the shingles ( I have an ugly tarp over the roof...) but I’ll post it up here for sure when I’m done!

Your husband is amazing, I don’t know how he managed to juggle FT work ***and*** build an entire chicken fort! I’m working part time and barely made something liveable by fowl standards

 

[yakitori]

Oh and getting them back to the run shouldn’t be too hard. I allow mine to free range where I can see the from the house. I used to let them free range unsupervised, but a few weeks ago, I saw a hawk loitering in the area, obviously eyeing my penned up birds, so unsupervised free ranging is not happening anymore .


To get them back into the run, I simply throw a handful of scratch and they go right in. If need be, I herd then with two long sticks -one in each hand and slowly guide them towards the run - they recognize the run as a safe place, so they naturally gravitate towards it. Now all I need to do is get the sticks out, and they will automatically proceed in the direction of the run!

 

[AllenK RGV]

Hello! Yes, they're there on either side of the coop beneath the long windows. You can't see them on the pic of the inside of the coop because we covered them with cardboard. I outlined one in blue here. It's bigger than it looks and opens for egg collection on the front, not the top.
On the inside of the coop they're 13 x 11 x 18, four nests in each box. Hopefully that will be comfortable for the girls. One thing we still need to do, is caulk any cracks or openings, which I think there are a couple small openings where the boards and top meet. Need to keep those nesting boxes dark and secure. We're actually planning to do that this week. I can post after pictures when we do.

I would like to suggest you move them to more shade if possible. I live in hades and my chicken rarely venture out in to full sun.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Has it ever happened where their chicks are just flying all over the store?

I think they just don't order the chicken I do. Mine are here as pets and not production breeds. The dogs love finding their egg nests and protect them for those butt nuggets. If the water meter guy tried to take an egg from this property, well, I would need to call my insurance agency.

 

[HENS-and-MARES]

I think they just don't order the chicken I do. Mine are here as pets and not production breeds. The dogs love finding their egg nests and protect them for those butt nuggets. If the water meter guy tried to take an egg from this property, well, I would need to call my insurance agency.

I mean, at TSC. Has it ever been where the chicks have hopped out of the bins, and started to run around the store.

 

[3KillerBs]

I herd then with two long sticks -one in each hand and slowly guide them towards the run - they recognize the run as a safe place, so they naturally gravitate towards it. Now all I need to do is get the sticks out, and they will automatically proceed in the direction of the run!

Mine are responding very well to the herding sticks too.

 

[HENS-and-MARES]

I think they just don't order the chicken I do. Mine are here as pets and not production breeds. The dogs love finding their egg nests and protect them for those butt nuggets. If the water meter guy tried to take an egg from this property, well, I would need to call my insurance agency.

Mine are pets to. Some of them are production breeds, and I enjoy the eggs, but they have names, I have already sent a goose to Vet for an
X-ray, and I cuddle them, and wouldn’t eat them.