Indoor chicken coop

[PaigeAndy'schickens]

Hello, we recently came upon a young hen that needed rescue. She was found in a snow bank in a driveway all by herself. (possibly dropped by a hawk) Regardless, my fiance and I had chickens before and decided to take care of her. We plan to get a new set of baby chicks in the spring anyway.
We are now running into a problem. We have a chicken coop outside but we are not fully confident with how secure it is and had planned to fix it up come spring for the babies. We feel as if our only option is to temporarily keep her in an indoor chicken coop until spring when we will be able to fix up her permanent home and let her live with our new flock when we get them.
Is this possible? We will make the indoor coop be around four feet tall and four to five feet long and wide. Planning on using a horse stall mat as the flooring and chicken wire all the way around. Then some for the top. We will put down newspaper and then wood chips that will get cleaned and replaced regularly. We feel like having her inside for this short time might also have the benefit of making her become more friendly. Am I missing anything? Any advice to make this work? Thank you so much for your help!!!

 

[cavemanrich]

I think you have a GREAT plan..
Thanks for rescuing the chicken.....
WISHING YOU BEST and .....

 

[Hope Hughes]

I dont know much about indoor chicken keeping other then brooding chicks. I posted a link below that may help more then me!
But i agree if the coop outside isnt safe and you have had attacks before i would keep her where you can keep her safe until the re build.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/people-with-house-chickens.299187/​

 

[bmwmom941]

I’m new to chickens but am learning so much from BYC. Your plans for an indoor coop sound good to me and I wish you the best; thank you for rescuing, she’s a lucky girl!

 

[PaigeAndy'schickens]

Thanks all for the kind words!!! I really appreciate it. My animals mean the world to me!!!

 

[blackdog043]

Keeping her inside, sounds like the best place til spring. Instead of newspaper, I would use cardboard, it will hold up better.

 

[Hokum Coco]

indoor chicken coop

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Paige I'd give her a perch about 18" off the floor and would also consider deep litter method. I use it for my indoor brooders and subscribe to the theory, that if it doesn't smell fresh and earthy, you need more carbon.

 

[lazy gardener]

In your house? No way would I contemplate this! The dander and the smell would be my undoing. No matter how clean you keep things, that chicken dander is like a fine oily silt that covers every surface, including the vertical ones. If you don't have lung problems now, you may have by spring. What about building a chicken tractor that would be predator safe, and putting that in your coop. You can use it for her now, and use it for the chicks in the spring.

 

[PaigeAndy'schickens]

In your house? No way would I contemplate this! The dander and the smell would be my undoing. No matter how clean you keep things, that chicken dander is like a fine oily silt that covers every surface, including the vertical ones. If you don't have lung problems now, you may have by spring. What about building a chicken tractor that would be predator safe, and putting that in your coop. You can use it for her now, and use it for the chicks in the spring.

Do you really think it will be that bad for one chicken? I was hoping since she's a lone chicken we wouldn't have too much of a problem with that.