New House, Old Coop

[TX Chick Noob]

They are only $22, hold about 5 pounds of feed, and are really easy to take down and clean out when necessary. I really really like them. At first I was concerned that the lids don't snap closed "tight", but it hasn't been an issue. And the food has stayed dry inside even when I have the misters on or the roof leaks.

 

[thlayli]

So, it's been a minute! A LOT has happened, although not much worth "reporting". I got my coop cleaned up and secured, although the corrugated metal walls made installing roosting bars incredibly difficult. I, uh, still haven't put those in. It's on my to-do list though!

In early September I set 22 shipped hatching eggs, of which 5 (SIGH) actually hatched out. Being entirely too optimistic I decided the fault was mine and as long as I washed off the ones that got to me covered in the dried goop of their broken brethren then it would be okay the next time. It was not okay the next time. Another batch of eggs arrived in October with broken shells, and this time I got exactly zero (0) babies from them. The only batch that arrived entirely secure and unmolested? 11/12 successfully hatched, and the 12th was a dud.

I will never buy shipped eggs again. Either I pick 'em up or bust.

Unfortunately for the Ameraucana Breeder's Club, not a single chick was an Ameraucana. I know, I know, but my family needs eggs come spring and I just couldn't wait for anyone near me to have chicks available, and most people had quit selling eggs for the winter. I got two near-Ams, though, funky colored easter eggers I should name O'Douls and Heineken. The rest are orpingtons and icelandics (which are apparently A Whole Thing on their own, which I did not realize).

The babies all feathered out in my garage and then I chucked 'em into the coop. They settled in pretty quickly, and early December I moved the second batch out there in a dog crate so they could all safely get acquainted with the older chicks before I unleashed them. There has been minimal strife, although I did have to play referee a few times when O'Douls got too aggressive. A quick tug on her neck feathers when she started to kick at the littler ones got rid of her attitude pretty quickly. All was well.

And then, the blizzard.

We got down to about -9 degrees where I am, and that was WITHOUT the wind chill. When it first dipped into the low teens I was worried for the babies, since they were barely a month old. I checked in the coop and one was pretty inert. She didn't try to get away from me and she wouldn't eat, just sat there fluffed up with half-closed eyes. I was afraid she was getting "into the frost", as Richard Adams would say. Emergency procedures were needed.

I got the brooder from the garage, came back to the coop, and built a little cave in one corner. I covered it with a thick floor mat that had been stuffed in a closet because our little cleaner bot couldn't handle the fringe, then piled straw on top of that. Next to it, because there was no way 11 chicks could all fit under the brooder, I put a thermopad on the floor under the board that will one day hold nesting boxes and then stuffed the space around it with straw, effectively making a little lean-to. When I was done I put my naked hand into the brooder-cave; it was noticeably warmer. In went Cold Chick and three of her siblings. They tried to dart out when I let them go but stopped before they actually left it. I herded the rest of the babies over to it and by the time I left the coop they had all congregated around the cave/lean-to, even if most of them didn't need it right that minute. Cold Chick was eating and moving around before I went back to the house.

After that it was just daily checks to make sure they had enough food and the water hadn't completely frozen over (I have a heated base for the waterer). This was my first blizzard too - I didn't know the hairs inside your nose could freeze.

After that atrocious storm blew through and everything turned into a big quagmire, the next step was introducing the flock to the run. I think tensions were starting to run a little high as the weather warmed because everyone was, pardon the pun, cooped up. Earlier in the fall I installed an automatic door on the coop, but even though it had been faithfully opening at sunrise and closing ten minutes after sunset I had blocked the way out into the run with a straw bale. The chunnel is made of cattle panels and I was afraid the babies would just through the gaps. (This fear was legitimized when, later, the Icelandics tried to get through the panels and are juuuuust too big to squeeze through). But, with the weather clearing up and the little chicks needing an outlet from the bigger ones, I decided to move the barrier and see what would happen.

It was a smashing success, y'all. The first couple of days I had to manually walk the chicks up the ramp when it was time to go in for the night (much protesting and squawking ensued), but for the past two days they've been coming and going at their leisure, and not a one has gotten locked out when the coop closes. The little ones seem to enjoy the outdoors more than the older ones, but I've seen all of them out and about, pecking at the weeds and dirt, fluffing themselves and flapping their wings. They seem downright content. Which, I guess, is the goal.

Older babies were born October 8th
Younger babies were born November 12th

Pic 1: older babies right after hatch
Pic 2: older babies when I moved them into the coop
Pic 3: the Icelandics hatching
Pic 4 and 5: my two Easter Eggers
Pic 6: the saucy one
Pic 7, 8, and 9: the Icelandics
Pic 10: the brooder cave/lean to in action

 

[3KillerBs]

Glad you came through the big storm alright.

The cave setup you made was a clever way of dealing with unusual circumstances.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Congrats! You take care of them really well

 

[thlayli]

Glad you came through the big storm alright.

The cave setup you made was a clever way of dealing with unusual circumstances.

Thanks! I really liked the Mama Heating Pad method but since I didn't have a heating pad it was easier and cheaper to just buy a brooder, and then when the temperatures bottomed out I was able to make a pretty good MHP facsimile with the same brooder. I was just copying as best I could what I had seen here.