Chickens…

Back on August 15th I took some pictures of our latest arrivals. I also posted some of the problems we were having with our chicks. I am thankful to say since then we have not lost anymore chicks. Our new problem is space and where to put everyone. (Not to mention the problem of too many roosters…)

Brooder

When we first picked up the chicks their temporary home was a rubbermaid container. Dave set to work looking for some wood and chicken wire to make a brooder for our fast growing chicks.

The bottom was filled with wood chips to make a cozy home. The chicks have lived comfortably in the brooder in our summer kitchen for about a month. Once they no longer needed the heat lamp, we opened the windows back there to acclimatize them to the current weather. It was time for them to move outside.

Coop

Some of you may remember this lovely coop that was a gift to Joel and our family from Quinn’s lovely family over at Reformation Acres. It currently houses our 3 barred rock chickens (2 roosters and 1 hen someone is going to have to leave and it won’t be the hen). We knew we could not just pile all the chickens together the big guys would need to get to know our new guys and things would be a little crowded in the current coop. Hmmm, Dave came up with a temporary solution.

He would take the existing brooder and convert it into a temporary coop. The plan was not for a fancy home but something to buy us some time. To keep out the weather but still have some ventilation. Our 3 older chickens have the freedom to free range, so while they were enjoying the great outdoors we put the new guys in the run of the old coop. This way Dave could work on the brooder without its occupants! As I said we weren`t going for pretty! Dave took the brooderand added some plywood scraps from around the house to the sides and top.

Then he added a door and a ramp from more scraps.

Our older chickens were rather interested in all the activity. I am guessing the guy below is thinking who are you and what are you doing in my run??

Dave left a trail of feed for the chickens but they were only interested in eating not in investigating the new digs.

There you have it, our temporary solution, I am hoping that over the next few days the big guys will get used to the younger guys. Eventually we will do an official introduction. Of our 9 younger birds there is one confirmed rooster as he is crowing and showing all the signs of roosterness!!!! There are a few other questionable hens that the jury is out on. My hope is before we move everyone into a structure for the winter that we have sorted out all the roosters and dealt with them. As we are still new to this process we are always interested in any comments!