- May 27, 2009
- 3
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Hello everyone,
I am a new chicken owner and this message board has been a tremendous help to me so far. Now I need some specific advice on how to handle the transition (for me and for the chickens) into coop living.
I have 3 BRs that are almost 6 weeks old. We moved them into their coop last weekend, and finished their permanent pen a couple of days ago. The first couple of days in the coop/pen combo, I moved their food and water outside during the day while they were out, and in the evening moved them back inside and manually placed the girls inside and closed the door.
What I would like to have happen, is to keep the food and water inside the coop, and have the girls "put themselves to bed" in the coop in the evenings, but I'm not sure I'm going about this the right way. Today I left the food and water in the coop and I've gone out there several times and placed each chicken in the coop so they'd see that that's where the food is. Each time was like a revelation to them: "Hey! There's food in here!", and they each gorged on feed like they hadn't eaten in days. I was hoping they'd eventually go in there on their own when they got hungry, but so far that doesn't seem to be happening. My question is, do I stop "reminding" them where the food is and let them figure it out, or do I keep helping them? I'm worried about them not eating/drinking enough during the day. To add to my distress, it's been raining off and on today and the girls have not figured out that they should take shelter in the coop. Should I go out there and place them in the coop when it starts raining, or let them figure it out? What about at night, should I be placing them in the coop, or should I let them wander in there when they're ready? I don't want them to think that they way to get food/shelter is to wait for the human to arrive and bring them to where they need to be; on the other hand I keep thinking they're still babies and maybe they need a little help. Any advice? Thank you all in advance. I'm loving my chick-rearing experience so far!
Kelly
I am a new chicken owner and this message board has been a tremendous help to me so far. Now I need some specific advice on how to handle the transition (for me and for the chickens) into coop living.
I have 3 BRs that are almost 6 weeks old. We moved them into their coop last weekend, and finished their permanent pen a couple of days ago. The first couple of days in the coop/pen combo, I moved their food and water outside during the day while they were out, and in the evening moved them back inside and manually placed the girls inside and closed the door.
What I would like to have happen, is to keep the food and water inside the coop, and have the girls "put themselves to bed" in the coop in the evenings, but I'm not sure I'm going about this the right way. Today I left the food and water in the coop and I've gone out there several times and placed each chicken in the coop so they'd see that that's where the food is. Each time was like a revelation to them: "Hey! There's food in here!", and they each gorged on feed like they hadn't eaten in days. I was hoping they'd eventually go in there on their own when they got hungry, but so far that doesn't seem to be happening. My question is, do I stop "reminding" them where the food is and let them figure it out, or do I keep helping them? I'm worried about them not eating/drinking enough during the day. To add to my distress, it's been raining off and on today and the girls have not figured out that they should take shelter in the coop. Should I go out there and place them in the coop when it starts raining, or let them figure it out? What about at night, should I be placing them in the coop, or should I let them wander in there when they're ready? I don't want them to think that they way to get food/shelter is to wait for the human to arrive and bring them to where they need to be; on the other hand I keep thinking they're still babies and maybe they need a little help. Any advice? Thank you all in advance. I'm loving my chick-rearing experience so far!
Kelly