Moving Day for the Chicks

Time to move up to the Outdoor Coop

The new coop is finally ready and with the girls being over six weeks old, they were more than ready. The smell from the mudroom was starting to permeate into the house. The original brooder box was great, but very hard to keep dry around the waterer. The next time (yes hubby, there will be more one day), I will definitely line the whole floor and a few inches up the wall with vinyl flooring. Plus, as the chicks get bigger so does their poop so no matter how often I cleaned and added fresh shavings I just couldn’t keep up.

The big Move

Having tested the chicks outdoors in Ollie’s metal dog kennel, I knew it wouldn’t be too hard to move them. I loaded the girls in the kennel and we carried the kennel out to the coop. They had some yard time and the kids spoiled them with their favorite treat….clover flowers. I could see they were getting hot. Did you know chickens pant like dogs to keep cool? Time to move into the coop. I just picked them up one by one and loaded them into the coop. They were very confused and I was sure Zombie would fly out. She behaved. The next problem was nobody seemed to want to drink. Until the run is ready below, I had to put the food and waterer in the coop. Still a nipple waterer, but this time on a 2 liter bottle so I would have to refill less often. We tried a red light to show them the nipple, but it took a while. My girl Zombie was the first, Maude followed and all was good. Soon it was time to say good night. It was hard to walk away knowing I couldn’t just peek in on them anytime.

Night One

It didn’t take long for me to start worrying…a thunderstorm moved in overnight! What if they were scared or the roof leaked? My sweet hubby checked on them first thing in the morning and the coop was dry and the girls looked happy. I had to see for myself and naturally everyone was safe and sound, what a relief!

Now we just need to finish the chicken run so they girls can play outside without being in a dog kennel. 🙂