Hi everyone!
We're new to Chicken raising and could use some advice..
We are trying to move as quickly as possible to feeding ourselves with a vegetable garden and raising chickens for eggs and fertilizer. We purchased 6 Rhode Island Red chicks hatched the first week of April and 4 more hatched the first week of May. So we have 10 total. Right now they are in rabbit cages and the first 6 are rapidly outgrowing theirs. The newest ones still have plenty of room but we know they will grow just as quickly as the first 6.
We have built a 12x12 run and put in a 2 foot high raised deck 4Wx6L with a former Red cedar playhouse on it that is 4Wx4Lx5.5H. We are converting the playhouse to their new coop. We let the older chicks out in the 12x12 all day but bring them back inside to the rabbit cages at night because their coop isn't ready yet and we have way to many predators to leave them in the run.
We have a friend building nest boxes out of an old hot tub cedar base for them that will be installed in the walls of the old playhouse. Those should be in this week. Our roost bars will be added in after the nest boxes and then we'll move them in prayerfully next weekend to get them out of their confined sleeping quarters as quickly as possible.
The 12x12 is surrounded by Welded wire and chicken wire and covered in netting to keep out aerial attackers. We are on a wooded 1 acre property and have 30 acres of woods behind us so we have coyote, fox, wild turkey, racoons, wild dogs, rats, hawks, crows etc. If you can name it then it probably lives there. We are deeply concerned about predators so took extra precaution to build a secure place for the hens. We have no roosters. We live in west central Florida so we have nothing by SAND here for soil and the 1" of soil attached to the sod they put down when they built our home. Most of the sod is gone and its mainly sandy soil now.
We are also building a 20x20 area that we will be moving the chicks and their coop into next spring. We plan to rotate their coop from one area to the other on alternating years so that they help fertilize more of the yard and garden and they will have the extra space to roam. We will expand their 12x12 next spring to also be 20x20.
I think we will be able to move the coop back and forth for about another 4-5 years and then after that any hens we have will get a permanent coop because we wont have the strength or desire to keep moving the coop every year.
Hopefully the yard and garden by then will have sufficient fertilizer and will keep us going into our retirement years. We hope to one day fence the back yard and let them free range the back of the property but it will be a huge expense. If that does happen we will probably get a guardian dog to help protect them.
Sadly the 20x20 chain link fence came later with the purchase of the coop (Former Playhouse) and the deck. It was a package. We built the 12x12 and then started looking for a coop to put in it. I found the playhouse, deck and fence by accident listed under DOG PEN and not chicken coop! I really would rather have them in the larger run but we already went through the expense of fortifying their 12x12 to protect them. They will live in the 12x12 this year and that gives us time to build up more funds to secure the 20x20 and move them in next year.
I apologize for the long letter but have noticed in other comments on requests for help that responders seems to ask questions about the chicks living quarters and the area that the person lives. So felt it would be best to provide ALL of that first then ask my questions.
So you have some background. Now the questions.
The first 6 hens are only 4-5 weeks older than the second 4 chicks. Now 8-9 weeks old and 4-5 weeks old. (They couldnt give us an exact hatch date)
We'd like to move them ALL into the playhouse at once when it is ready. They have been introduced to each other both inside the garage in the sleeping cages (sitting side by side) and then outside in the 12x12.
We let the older hens run free in the 12x12 but kept the younger ones in their cage inside the run so the other hens could see them all day. The older hens have climbed on the cage and have looked at them curiously but no aggression has been noted.
Question: Can we put them all together in the new coop when it is ready this weekend or should we continue to keep them separated?
I read somewhere here in BYC that when moving hens into a new coop that they should be kept IN the coop for two weeks and not let out in the run so they learn the new coop is home.
Question: Is this correct? Should we keep them COOPED up for 2 weeks?
Our soil is sand so we are composting now and want to mix the chicken droppings in the with the compost. But we also have the hens in the run so they of course are pooping in the sandy soil. I did place some Bahia grass sod strips in there so they had some grassy areas to forage but it is the space is still mostly SAND with some sparse grass throughout.
Question: Do I need to dig up the sandy soil after a period of time or can it just be left there to compost in place with some light tilling or raking it into the soil? I would throw in more sand to cover it so they (and us!) are not walking in poop all day. I am not sure the best way. Any advice would be appreciated!
I have so many more questions because I want to do what it best for the chickens but I also don not want to be an annoyance here so I will stop now and post again at some point in the future with more questions.
If anyone could answer those few questions above we would certainly be appreciative and open to any advice to raise happy healthy hens.
Thank you for your patience with me!
Karen Michelle
We're new to Chicken raising and could use some advice..
We are trying to move as quickly as possible to feeding ourselves with a vegetable garden and raising chickens for eggs and fertilizer. We purchased 6 Rhode Island Red chicks hatched the first week of April and 4 more hatched the first week of May. So we have 10 total. Right now they are in rabbit cages and the first 6 are rapidly outgrowing theirs. The newest ones still have plenty of room but we know they will grow just as quickly as the first 6.
We have built a 12x12 run and put in a 2 foot high raised deck 4Wx6L with a former Red cedar playhouse on it that is 4Wx4Lx5.5H. We are converting the playhouse to their new coop. We let the older chicks out in the 12x12 all day but bring them back inside to the rabbit cages at night because their coop isn't ready yet and we have way to many predators to leave them in the run.
We have a friend building nest boxes out of an old hot tub cedar base for them that will be installed in the walls of the old playhouse. Those should be in this week. Our roost bars will be added in after the nest boxes and then we'll move them in prayerfully next weekend to get them out of their confined sleeping quarters as quickly as possible.
The 12x12 is surrounded by Welded wire and chicken wire and covered in netting to keep out aerial attackers. We are on a wooded 1 acre property and have 30 acres of woods behind us so we have coyote, fox, wild turkey, racoons, wild dogs, rats, hawks, crows etc. If you can name it then it probably lives there. We are deeply concerned about predators so took extra precaution to build a secure place for the hens. We have no roosters. We live in west central Florida so we have nothing by SAND here for soil and the 1" of soil attached to the sod they put down when they built our home. Most of the sod is gone and its mainly sandy soil now.
We are also building a 20x20 area that we will be moving the chicks and their coop into next spring. We plan to rotate their coop from one area to the other on alternating years so that they help fertilize more of the yard and garden and they will have the extra space to roam. We will expand their 12x12 next spring to also be 20x20.
I think we will be able to move the coop back and forth for about another 4-5 years and then after that any hens we have will get a permanent coop because we wont have the strength or desire to keep moving the coop every year.

Sadly the 20x20 chain link fence came later with the purchase of the coop (Former Playhouse) and the deck. It was a package. We built the 12x12 and then started looking for a coop to put in it. I found the playhouse, deck and fence by accident listed under DOG PEN and not chicken coop! I really would rather have them in the larger run but we already went through the expense of fortifying their 12x12 to protect them. They will live in the 12x12 this year and that gives us time to build up more funds to secure the 20x20 and move them in next year.
I apologize for the long letter but have noticed in other comments on requests for help that responders seems to ask questions about the chicks living quarters and the area that the person lives. So felt it would be best to provide ALL of that first then ask my questions.
So you have some background. Now the questions.
The first 6 hens are only 4-5 weeks older than the second 4 chicks. Now 8-9 weeks old and 4-5 weeks old. (They couldnt give us an exact hatch date)
We'd like to move them ALL into the playhouse at once when it is ready. They have been introduced to each other both inside the garage in the sleeping cages (sitting side by side) and then outside in the 12x12.
We let the older hens run free in the 12x12 but kept the younger ones in their cage inside the run so the other hens could see them all day. The older hens have climbed on the cage and have looked at them curiously but no aggression has been noted.
Question: Can we put them all together in the new coop when it is ready this weekend or should we continue to keep them separated?
I read somewhere here in BYC that when moving hens into a new coop that they should be kept IN the coop for two weeks and not let out in the run so they learn the new coop is home.
Question: Is this correct? Should we keep them COOPED up for 2 weeks?
Our soil is sand so we are composting now and want to mix the chicken droppings in the with the compost. But we also have the hens in the run so they of course are pooping in the sandy soil. I did place some Bahia grass sod strips in there so they had some grassy areas to forage but it is the space is still mostly SAND with some sparse grass throughout.
Question: Do I need to dig up the sandy soil after a period of time or can it just be left there to compost in place with some light tilling or raking it into the soil? I would throw in more sand to cover it so they (and us!) are not walking in poop all day. I am not sure the best way. Any advice would be appreciated!
I have so many more questions because I want to do what it best for the chickens but I also don not want to be an annoyance here so I will stop now and post again at some point in the future with more questions.
If anyone could answer those few questions above we would certainly be appreciative and open to any advice to raise happy healthy hens.
Thank you for your patience with me!
Karen Michelle