We moved our 36 three-week-olds into their coop today. It is as predator proof as we can make it for now- I hope! They were getting so cramped in that little brooder, they just could not spend any more time in there, for their sake and mine. That thing was getting smelly in no time
and I was refilling their little quart waterer 5 times a day. Now they have a nice long PVC feeder and a 3.5 gallon waterer, as well as a log to roost on. The nest boxes and adult roosts will come later, and we have begun work on the run. I am hoping this time in the coop will help them realize that it's their safe place and we won't have many problems getting them to come in once the run is complete. I don't have the amount of pine shavings I want for the bedding, but I'll get more this week. There's plenty to cover the dirt floor for now, and they have discovered the dirt around the edges already and were dust bathing when I left them. We buried a chicken wire skirt and then DH poured some concrete to go around the outside edges of the coop. That was his compromise with me for not using hardware cloth for the skirting. Anyway, we used leftover paint we had around here, several different colors, so the coop is named The Rainbow House. Makes it sound much prettier than it really is
I hope the chickens don't mind if their coop is a bit ugly!
