Growing so fast
The chicks are a month old now. They are at that awkward stage where they are no longer quite so cute and still need to finish feathering out.
They have been growing so fast, and the weather is warm, so we decided to move them into the chicken coop. Besides, they were making a mess in the basement.
Getting the coop ready
There was still some work to do on the coop to get it ready. Luckily, my son came over yesterday to help me out. These were definitely two person jobs. (Although, I will admit he did a lot more of the work than I did! It was hot, and I needed to rest…)
We put up the walls for the outside run. There are three walls, each approximately 8×8 ft. One of them has a door. My daughter and I had built the walls a while ago, but we needed to get them out to the coop and stood up.
We also needed to install a few more pieces of the rubber matting, and it weighs a ton. You cut it by scoring with a box cutter type knife, but a second person is required to hold the carpenters square in place to get a straight line. Besides, he is way stronger than I am and can cut much deeper – and this way I did not have to worry about trying to cut my finger tip off again.
I still have to put some mesh over the top to protect the chickens from overhead predator’s. I will get that done the next time I have a helper. For now, they will only go into the outside run while supervised.
We did not have electricity out to the coop yet, so for a temporary solution we have a bunch of long electrical cords running from the house to the coop… The chicks will still need heat at night for a few weeks. In addition to their brooding plate, they have a cozy coop heater.
The Move
I loaded the chicks, their food and water, as well as the heaters, into the truck and got them set up in the coop.
They are not sure what to do with so much room!
I wonder if they will find the higher roost bars tonight?
Tomorrow Morning
In the morning, they will get their first experience of outdoors, while they explore their new run.
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