When can I put chicks outside in the coop?

[2txmedics]

Thats great! i was getting ready to put mine out after all the wonderful advice, and wouldnt you know it...got a bad rain storm 3 days solid...heck....so back to square one...I need to make sure there safe, my big girls...and big daddy will NOT go into the coop when it rains!!!

Instead they go "under" the coop, and it tends to flood in our area...I have gone out there when we first got them posted the storie in stories of chickens blog...and I mean the water was up to our knees almost...so here we are, trying to catch our babies, "laying" in the water in our rain gear...we thought Heck!!! We're medics, this hard golf ball size rain wont hurt us...we can do this...how hard can it be?

Man, We both were laying in the water, sopping wet...trying to reach under the coop to catch them...under the coop is only like 14" tall and extends maybe 3' deep....Well we didnt think they wouldnt go into the coop in bad weather!!!!

we managed to catch them all, put them in the coop and close the door...we were soaked!!!! But I just couldnt let me babies drown....

WILL THEY EVER GET IN ON THERE OWN??? DURING BAD WEATHER???? If Im not home I rush home...if Im working I cant.

 

[juliect]

Quote:
Can you use chicken wire, etc and close-up the area underneath the coop? Maybe they would go into the coop if they had no other option.
Thankfully my girls are kind of wimpy and run into the coop if a cloud passes overhead

 

[mjdtexan]

I waited until they were six weeks old.

 

[2txmedics]

well I could, but...I made the coop like that so they can get out of the Texas heat and make little dust areas where they could just kick back and be cool...they love it under there...Now when it pours if Im home, I rush out and put chicken wire across the bottom to block it up...but thats a hassel, thought of maybe making a permanet boards or something I can just go out and lay across it...instead of trying to extend chicken wire and rush doing it....

you see here, it has the chicken wire across, wasnt long enough so I got a piece of tin, and put it up against the coop and it had a small opening and I blocked it with a bucket, it was getting ready to pour heavy.

see how it goes back deep into the coop underneath...thats there cool area

 

[juliect]

Quote:
Hmmm...other than building a dam around their area, boards that can be removed will probably be the easier bet. Maybe in an "L" shape so they can support themselves?

Or you can borrow my Beth...she runs into the coop & jumps on a roost, over every little thing. She does it in such a panic that the other chickens panic and follow

The other chickens finally have started to figure out when it is a false-alarm & quickly come back outside. So far Beth has kept the flock safe from rain, hawks, mockingbirds, airplanes, helicopters, cardinals, chickadees, jarflies, large butterflies, etc.

 

[gritsar]

When I order new chicks in the spring, they will be in their coop from day one.
My last batch of chicks started in my DH's harley shed. Then it got to hot in there, so they lived on the screened porch while we finished building their coop.
I know we all love our chickies, but they really are livestock and I've seen for myself that chicks raised outside do every bit as well if not better than house raised chicks.
If Mama hen was raising them, she'd be taking them outside very early.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[2txmedics]

And this is true...Im just scared to put them with the big hens and my roo....afraid they will attack them

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yeah, when you have an older flock and youngin's it's a bit harder. I'm going to be creating a small fenced area around my second coop until the little ones are large enough to free range with the flock.