Transferred to the coop today!

[musikfan6]

Well Folks....

I transferred my little ladies to the coop this afternoon. It was fun to watch them in there for the first time. I think they love having all that space now. I put the heat lamp in for the nighttime. We are expecting weather in the 70's and 80's for the next couple days, so I think they are going to be fine. They were pecking all over the place and flapping around (and "christening the floor" with their little stinky brown presents). They were making these funny noises - half clucks and their usual chirps when I feed them. They seemed pretty happy.

Question: Do you think that a three foot fence is going to be high enough for now? They are just about 5 weeks old and fully feathered. They can fly a little, but I'm not sure if they will be able to go over the wire fence. I have one set up outside the coop if they want to go outside.

More later....

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Awww, that's great. Congrats.

I think that the three foot fence is ok...but I wouldn't keep it up for long. I've found that they find out how to fly over it real fast. A predator could get over that in no time. It just depends your situation. Do you have predators in your area, any dogs?

 

[musikfan6]

Yes, unfortunately we live in a rural area and we definitely have hawks and probably even some foxes. As of now, I have the run "closed off" so they cannot get out just yet. I'm thinking that if I let them out, it would be for a limited amount of time. Right now they are too preoccupied with the newness of the coop and all the room they have inside to be bothered with going out. So that's probably good, but I'll most likely have to "supervise" them if they go out, and just keep it for a limited amount of time.

 

[musikfan6]

It's 7:30 and I just checked the little ladies in the coop again (Can you tell this is exciting??!!). They were all laying together in the pine shavings, some closer to each other than others, but mostly all together; but they were not directly under the heat lamp -just in close proximity to it. I hope this means they are comfortable. It's not cold out at all - high 60's right now. I think they are just shutting down for the evening. They seem to be doing well. I'll be anxious to see how they are in the morning.

Thanks again for reading, friends!

 

[Ourfamilyflock]

Sounds great! Our 4 week olds are more then ready for their coop, too bad the coop isnt quite ready for them..lol. But cant wait for the process of watching them getting used to their new home, much like you I will be constantly checking on them. Look forward to reading more updates!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Moving day is hard. Just make sure the heat lamp is really secure and can't be knocked down on the floor.

 

[musikfan6]

Heat lamp is hanging by a thick chain from the roof -about 20 inches from the floor. They were all lying together under it this morning, but did not seem to be acting like they were too cold. They've been just pecking around. I opened the door to the outside run. They seem to have no interest in going outside at this point.

Anyone know what's with the running and flapping of wings all time? Are they establishing "pecking order" or something? They do this often.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

There's no problem whatsoever with chicks running/flapping around, they're just like little kids with lot's of energy. Flapping is also a way for chickens to 'freshen up' in a sense. My teenager chicks run around and flap all the time, it's cute because they have tons of energy lol.

 

[jlsdss1987]

My barred rocks would be over the three foot fence at five weeks! They loved to get as high as they could. I would be careful with that short of a fence.

 

[musikfan6]

Thanks for your input. I have two barred rocks, by the way.

Yeah, I'm not real comfortable with the fence, so I'm not sure what's going to happen with that. As I said earlier, I had the run open all day but they had nothing to do with it. We're going to be away all day tomorrow, so I'll probably leave it closed since no one will be here to "check up" on them. I'm hoping to have the completely enclosed run constructed and ready in May. I ran out of money, so I'll just have to wait for now. I think they'll be OK fir a while. They did walk up to the edge of the opening and look out, but didn't seem to sure. But I bet they'll be outside before long. Their curiosity will get the best of them.

Thanks againg