I have wanted to do this for years and I’m really loving these babies and have become attached. I’m not sure if this is a good thing lol… we got them as tiny little fluff balls and put them in giant plastic bins and placed the bins inside dog crates with heat of course and put them in our bathroom. We had shavings in the bins for bedding. Once they were totally feathered and it was staying around 50-60 degrees at night we began to move them to the beautiful coop that my husband built.
We decided on sand to be the floor of the run and currently still have shavings in the coop (which is my next decision bc I’ve seen where some use the sand inside the coop as well and we are about to embark on a NC summer.) I do leave the food and water in the coop at night as this is what they are used to and I am making gradual changes with them. (I’ve never been a chicken mom before only a human, dog, cat and pig mom…)
The Brahmas we wanted unfortunately were not ready at the same time as the rest of our flock so there is a few weeks age gap and I’m nervous to put them together. My husband went into tractor supply to get chicken wire a few weeks ago and came out with two baby turkeys who have since then imprinted on him and he is now their mommy. Turkeys still come into the bathroom at night as Jeff has really assumed the mother roll.
We sit with the birds some each day and allow these turkeys to be with the older birds. The older birds chase and peck and the turkeys jump in their mommy’s lap (my husband lol) so it confirms things I’ve read about introducing new birds. I’m open to suggestions on this!!
So currently we have a little coop inside our big coop so the birds can see and smell one another.
The older flock seem to all get along and I want this to be a permanent thing. I have had my husband make the coop so that I have power and am able to use the heat if need be. Is this a good or bad idea? They are still babies and we have a 37 degree night coming tomorrow (typical of NC springtime) Brahmas are younger so I definitely am going to use heat for them… I also have a camera on the run itself as well as inside each coop which I check often to make sure everyone is ok… I may be over doing it but this is what feels right to me
The dogs have taught us that our next endeavor is to put another fence around the coop itself to ensure they can still be unsupervised in their own back yard. Jeff built a raised bed for me around the perimeter of the coop after digging a trench a few feet out and burying the first layer of chicken wire. (He put two layers of wire on the coop as at first we couldn’t find the rabbit wire with the tiny holes.) This raised bed serves dual purpose maybe more. It feels like it’s another barrier on anything trying to dig to get inside the coop as well as gives me my vegetable garden.
Well my precious German Shepard (1 year old)
Decided she wanted to see what was down in the garden and yes he did make a fence around the garden. She took it down too. She Moves fast. I Love her love my coop love my chicks and turkeys love my husband.
Please share your experience on sand or not sand inside the coop, introducing new birds, and heat inside the coop or not…
Thank you,
Kerri
We decided on sand to be the floor of the run and currently still have shavings in the coop (which is my next decision bc I’ve seen where some use the sand inside the coop as well and we are about to embark on a NC summer.) I do leave the food and water in the coop at night as this is what they are used to and I am making gradual changes with them. (I’ve never been a chicken mom before only a human, dog, cat and pig mom…)
The Brahmas we wanted unfortunately were not ready at the same time as the rest of our flock so there is a few weeks age gap and I’m nervous to put them together. My husband went into tractor supply to get chicken wire a few weeks ago and came out with two baby turkeys who have since then imprinted on him and he is now their mommy. Turkeys still come into the bathroom at night as Jeff has really assumed the mother roll.
We sit with the birds some each day and allow these turkeys to be with the older birds. The older birds chase and peck and the turkeys jump in their mommy’s lap (my husband lol) so it confirms things I’ve read about introducing new birds. I’m open to suggestions on this!! So currently we have a little coop inside our big coop so the birds can see and smell one another.
The older flock seem to all get along and I want this to be a permanent thing. I have had my husband make the coop so that I have power and am able to use the heat if need be. Is this a good or bad idea? They are still babies and we have a 37 degree night coming tomorrow (typical of NC springtime) Brahmas are younger so I definitely am going to use heat for them… I also have a camera on the run itself as well as inside each coop which I check often to make sure everyone is ok… I may be over doing it but this is what feels right to me
The dogs have taught us that our next endeavor is to put another fence around the coop itself to ensure they can still be unsupervised in their own back yard. Jeff built a raised bed for me around the perimeter of the coop after digging a trench a few feet out and burying the first layer of chicken wire. (He put two layers of wire on the coop as at first we couldn’t find the rabbit wire with the tiny holes.) This raised bed serves dual purpose maybe more. It feels like it’s another barrier on anything trying to dig to get inside the coop as well as gives me my vegetable garden.
Well my precious German Shepard (1 year old)
Decided she wanted to see what was down in the garden and yes he did make a fence around the garden. She took it down too. She Moves fast. I Love her love my coop love my chicks and turkeys love my husband.
Please share your experience on sand or not sand inside the coop, introducing new birds, and heat inside the coop or not…
Thank you,
Kerri
the set up you made! Looks Great! My hubby built my coop an run around 12 years ago. I had to take my old run down this year but the coop itself is still good. I got a new run this year. Attached it to my old coop. It's so hot where I live the run has to be fitted with misters for the birds. The misters are very hard on the wood and wire. This time the run is all metal where I can replace the wire when needed.
