Store bought coop... I know, bad idea.. too late

[mgharris30]

Texas weather is hard. East Texas tells me hot and humid with a few cold spells in winter. Born raised 60± years here in Texas from East Texas-now central (close to Bryan/College Station). Your doing great! Coops are tricky. Try to remember to reduce heat and don't worry about cold. We all buy/use down jackets, chickens have theirs naturally.
You have your wire run, wooden coop with roost bar and nest box and most importantly--chickens! Good start!
It's all about learning what works what doesn't and enjoying life.
If you can't have roo's, then figure out what to do with them. Rehome, cull (kill and eat), sell, give away. Before long you WILL know the boys. My coop is prefab-but it works. I did have a dog attack that damaged it, I repaired it, then reinforced entire outside with welded wire. It's not purty, but it works.

The one that I KNOW is a roo is going to a friend. Her hubby was looking to add another too to their flock, so that worked out great!! For the others, only time will tell. I’m having a blast watching them though. Chicks are funny!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Glad you were able to rehome.

 

[littledog]

+1. That would be a fast, and easy way, to expand your run. Sometimes you can find used dog kennels for a good price. Even new, they are not too expensive.

That's what I would do - It's the way I started when I first got chickens. Keep the coop you have and put it inside a chainlink dog kennel. Make the kennel more predator-proof by installing a hardware cloth apron around the outside (get a 4' wide roll, bend it 90 degrees so it extends up the walls 2.5 feet or so and outwards along the ground 18") then cover the rest of the kennel, including the roof, with poultry wire.
For the coop, paint it with a good sealer, raise the roosts above the level of the nest boxes, and install walls (could be wood, could even be plastic sheeting just to block the wind, depending on your weather) above the height of your roosts, leaving the top as it is for ventilation.
Now your pre-fab coop/run is their indoor coop, plenty big enough for 6 or 7 chickens, and the kennel (most are 6'x12' or so) is also a good size for them, and safer than just the pre-fab coop.
About sexing chicks, I have no idea.
Please don't think you've failed and gotten everything wrong - most of us started with a similar setup and kept improving as we went along.
Good luck, and congrats on becoming a chicken keeper - it's so fun and rewarding!

 

[KGandE]

They are very cute and as long as they aren't injuring each other, I think the bully can be with the others - of course if he's injuring anyone you will have to move him out again. The coop looks lovely; if it has weak areas, just reinforce them with some extra wire mesh or boards to keep predators out. Too bad about the dogs near you - I do think you'd need a sturdy fence to keep them out but it might be worth getting just a few sections of fence to maybe make a square run for the chickens to stretch their legs. Good luck with them all!

 

[Katsmeow77]

+1. That would be a fast, and easy way, to expand your run. Sometimes you can find used dog kennels for a good price. Even new, they are not too expensive.

That is what we did. We found a used dog kennel and bought a roof cover to fit it. It works well. My coop is on a stand so they have the entire floor of the kennel to be in. I’ve seen people have mesh tunnels that connect from the coop to around the yard and back to the coop for a better “outing” experience.

 

[Katsmeow77]

+1. That would be a fast, and easy way, to expand your run. Sometimes you can find used dog kennels for a good price. Even new, they are not too expensive.

 

[HomesteadDeb]

Definitely need more run space. As for the inside you are good as long as there is enough space for them to comfortably roost. It looks like your coop is like one of mine though and only has roost bars close to the floor. Chickens prefer to roost up high, so hopefully your coop can be modified just a bit by building in some support and raising those roost bars.

Do we need to enlarge the inside part (I think roost?)? Or just the run? I want a larger run for them because they can't free range. I also want a place large enough for me to interact with them.

Ately

 

[Tilhana]

All good suggestions so far! I would just add that if the bully has been separated for a few days already you can probably try adding him back. It's likely that while he's been isolated, the pecking order has likely changed and when he is reintroduced, he'll be demoted to the bottom, and have to learn to be more polite.

Also, early differences in growth speed can mean a lot with chicks. I have a bunch of 10-day-olds, all from my own relatively similarly-sized chickens, and I swear the biggest ones are twice the size of the smallest ones. But that may even out some as they grow. Granted, the cockerels will stay bigger and the silkies will stay smaller, but the size differences may become a little less extreme as they age.

If he continues to hurt the other ones, you could separate him again and then reintroduce him after you've made some changes to expand the run. Most aggressive chickens will be less so if they have more space. A quick and dirty solution that might work for the present would be getting some chicken wire fencing and some posts and setting it up just outside the door of the run. It would be roofless so you'd still have to close the door to the run at night, but it would give them extra space and you could hang out with them in there. That might give you a little wiggle room until you can get around to making a more permanent addition to the run.

In case you do end up getting more chickens later, there are a few breeds that can be autosexed at birth, so that you can buy chicks and not have to worry about half of them being roos. You could also do pullets - that's what I did when I was starting out - but they are a lot more expensive.

Also, I just have to say, your city is ok with roaming dogs but has an ordinance against roosters? Yet another example of people's priorities being completely backwards.

 

[susania]

My mother in law bought a coop that was way too small for her chickens. My hubby expanded the run portion. The coop and nesting boxes seem to work for her 5 laying chickens. Just an idea.

 

[greengirl919]

That would be great!!! I think the white silkie is a boy because it stood up to the older one. I'm looking for pics of him. He's good with people, but I was afraid one of the other chicks. would get hurt.

Girl chickens can be brave, stubborn, and/or mean too. We've had hens that as chicks were either bullies or stood up to the bullies and we've also had hens that were meaner than our roosters. We've never had much success sexing our chickens until they reach a certain age and start displaying very obvious signs of their gender (i.e. starting to crow, developing long, shiny tail feathers, etc.)