when to put chicks in the coop

[Auntie Moose]

Re rats and mice in the coop and/or run. Removing food at night and using rodent proof feeders is a start, but I think what's been forgotten is that every grain of chicken food does not either remain in the feeder or in the chickens. Chickens scatter it. They drop it. They bill some out. They don't always find every scrap of food or scratch tossed in. It gets lost in the litter. And those tiny missed bits are all it takes to feed a hungry mouse - they don't need a feeder full....

The most important thing is to try to keep them out in the first place, and that's easier said than done! They are ingenious, survival-driven little critters who will find and exploit every teeny little entry point they find. We use 1/4 inch hardware cloth around the perimeter of our entire setup - it runs 2 feet up the sides and almost 2 feet outwards at the bottom. We chose that because I'd read that a mouse can get through a space 1/2 wide so I wanted something finer. It's secured with screws and washers, wire, and landscape fabric staples (in the ground) and we even put a rubber gasket at the bottom of the people doors to seal any gaps. I thought we'd done what we could.

Last night I went out because I left the water running on the garden. I shined the flashlight on the run as I was on my way out there just in time to see a mouse use the 1/4 inch hardware cloth like a ladder, scurrying up the wall and then dropping down into the run. AAACKKKK!! This morning Ken and went out and bought 8 of those black covered traps. The lady at the hardware store looked a little heebied-out at the thought of what our house must be like so I said, "They're for the chicken coop." She kind of laughed and said, "Good luck. I never did get rid of them completely in mine." Oh, boy. <sigh> But we'll set the traps tonight and put a few inside and the rest around the perimeter and hope for the best. I don't want to use poison because if a chicken finds a poisoned dead mouse she may well think she has a new treat and eat from it. No thanks! Wish us luck!

That's what I'm afraid of! Trying to keep the mice away is like shifting deck chairs on the Titanic. Get one place done and the little suckers pop up somewhere else! Our coop is up against a shared fence, and the mice are coming from over there. Not much I can do about the other guy's yard, but we are filling in holes, adding barriers and setting traps on our side. I'm hoping eventually the girls will peck at the mice and chase them instead of the mice scaring the girls! We changed their feeder so that they don't spread as much crumble around, but you are right. They drop it everywhere. I have squirrels nosing around, too, but they can't get in at all. Maybe traps are the way to go, although I don't relish the idea of disposing of "full" ones.

 

[JaysGirl]

I need advice badly!! We finished our coop yesterday and my 6 chicks are quickly outgrowing their brooder at 4 weeks. I want to move them to the coop but it is just so hot!! Today I bought a box fan and put it in the window (sucking out) and it did nothing! So I turned it around (blowing in) and it has cooled it to a shivering 95.9 degrees!! But the weather man says it feels like 103 outside so I guess that is cool compared to 103. Also there is a heat advisory until 8pm. I have read all the post on here about frozen water bottles etc to cool them but I don't know with the "newness" of moving if they would even go near them. I already am quite fond of the sweeties and really do not want to make them suffer or God forbid die! Our weather is not going to get much better for a while so I know I'm going to have to do it sometime. What would you do?

 

[Choco Maran]

How cool is it in the your house? They should be fine remember they had to be at 99 for the first in the brooder. Put them out in the brooder and and watch them to see how they are doing. We have been in the lower 90 here and I have place three sets of chicks in their coops during the weekend and everyone is doing just fine. They are from 12 weeks to just seven weeks. Make sure they have somewhere to get out of the direct sun and water handy and they will be fine.

 

[AllynTal]

I need advice badly!! We finished our coop yesterday and my 6 chicks are quickly outgrowing their brooder at 4 weeks. I want to move them to the coop but it is just so hot!! Today I bought a box fan and put it in the window (sucking out) and it did nothing! So I turned it around (blowing in) and it has cooled it to a shivering 95.9 degrees!! But the weather man says it feels like 103 outside so I guess that is cool compared to 103. Also there is a heat advisory until 8pm. I have read all the post on here about frozen water bottles etc to cool them but I don't know with the "newness" of moving if they would even go near them. I already am quite fond of the sweeties and really do not want to make them suffer or God forbid die! Our weather is not going to get much better for a while so I know I'm going to have to do it sometime. What would you do?

I'm in the same boat. I live on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and the heat indexes have been over 100. I have 19 chicks that I put in the coop when they were 3 days old and they've been fine. They're two weeks old now and don't seem bothered by the heat. I toss a couple of ice cubes in their waterer a couple times a day and make sure they have shade by draping some shade cloth over their little nursery run.

If you want to try to cool the coop down a little, fill a couple of soda bottles with water and freeze them, then somehow fix the bottles in front of the fan so the fan blows over the bottles into the coop (set them in front if there's a shelf or tie string around the top of the bottles and hang them from the fan grill). The air blowing off the frozen bottles will be cool. Keep a few bottles in the freezer, because you'll probably have to switch them out a couple of times a day if it's really hot out. Just make sure the chicks can't get into the fan.

If the coop is sitting in direct sunlight, you can try shading it with some shade cloth (or considering doing a roof-over on it).

 

[JaysGirl]

Thanks AllynTal! Well I took the leap and put them out this morning! I don't have a shade cloth right now so I just cracked the big window for more ventilation until the sun goes down on that side. I have a fan blowing in the door. The blue thing in the center of the pic is a frozen water jug. Just gave them some cool fruit too. They seem ok right now, exploring the coop. Are there some other cool foods that I can give them besides fruit? Or can you give them too much? Hopefully this gets easier as they get older, my worrying I mean! LOL!

 

[Blooie]

Can't address your temperature issues - sounds like you are doing about all you can. I do have a couple of questions, though. That ramp looks awfully steep to me. Might not be an issue now but it could prove to be one as their body mass increases and they get a little more clumsy with size. Can you put a brick or something under the end of it to reduce the angle? They'll jump off at the bottom where the ramp doesn't come into contact with the ground. Also is that a window with the hardware cloth over it? Looks like plywood closing it off, and I'm wondering about that - sure would be a good source of increased ventilation...

 

[JaysGirl]

Can't address your temperature issues - sounds like you are doing about all you can. I do have a couple of questions, though. That ramp looks awfully steep to me. Might not be an issue now but it could prove to be one as their body mass increases and they get a little more clumsy with size. Can you put a brick or something under the end of it to reduce the angle? They'll jump off at the bottom where the ramp doesn't come into contact with the ground. Also is that a window with the hardware cloth over it? Looks like plywood closing it off, and I'm wondering about that - sure would be a good source of increased ventilation...

Thanks for the suggestion Blooie. This being our first time we just kinda guessed Ill get my husband to fix it and check back with you. That is a huge window with hardware cloth. I just cracked it this morning for ventilation because the sun was beating down on that side and I was trying to fill it with cool air from the opposite shady side. After the shade hit over that side of the coop I lowered the window and sat the big fan in it (on the outside).

 

[AllynTal]

Quote:

...That is a huge window with hardware cloth. I just cracked it this morning for ventilation because the sun was beating down on that side and I was trying to fill it with cool air from the opposite shady side. After the shade hit over that side of the coop I lowered the window and sat the big fan in it (on the outside).

That is a nice big window and a good amount of ventilation. If you have the fan on the outside blowing in, you can hang frozen bottles on the hardware cloth on the inside in front of the fan so the air from the fan blows over the bottles and acts like a space cooler. If what you're doing now is keeping the coop at 85 degrees F, I think you're fine. The heat indexes here are over 100 every day and I don't do anything extra other than put ice cubes in the water and make sure they have good shade. (Our coop does have a roof-over, though, and the breed of chickens we have are heat-tolerant -- a necessity for the Deep South.)

Blooie is right, though. That ramp is too steep. Along with raising the bottom end a bit, have your husband kerf the spaces between the rungs every 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart.

 

[Blooie]

I'm not sure I get what you mean about wanting to fill the coop with cool air from the shady side, but if your coop has good ventilation that is more important than the few degrees the morning sun coming in might cause. Cool air filling the coop and being held in there is kinda the opposite of what you really want - air flow. That window is just wonderful - exactly what I wanted and didn't get.

Instead I have one about half that size where the sun comes in in the morning. And my silly chickens will find a patch of sunshine and lay in it first thing in the morning regardless of where they have to find it!

I like the water bottle suggestion from @AllynTal and agree that although 85 seems warm, they should be able to tolerate that well. We tend to think of their comfort in terms of ours - not usually a huge deal in the summer because hot is hot. But in winter thinking that heavily feathered, well insulated chickens need to be in a heated, insulated space because that's what WE want, and then sealing a coop up completely is when the danger of that kind of thinking comes in.

 

[JaysGirl]

What I meant was I wanted the cool air to flow through the coop instead of the scorching hot air from the sunny side. You can see in the picture below, I have another window the length of my door opposite the big window.
I wish it would have stayed 85 yesterday!

that was the temp when I put them out there! I think it reached 96! But thanks to good advice from folks like you and @AllynTal, they made it through and so did I LOL! I have to give kudos to my DH for the windows. I told him they needed good ventilation and that's what he came up with. I think the girls will be happy with it. Also I put a milk crate at the bottom of ramp. I think it did the trick because they have been on it, I know because they left little gifts on it!

I'm going to post a picture below from my computer because it won't let me do it on my phone.