The Backyard Coop » Chicks

Chicks getting bigger and bigger

The Keeper — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:22:22 +0000

The chicks are now 6 weeks old, and have been growing very quickly. So quickly, in fact, they were starting to get cramped in their outside box. I found out that my coop is not quite ready yet, so I had to do something to give them more space in the interim. As you can see from the pictures, they’ve grown quite a lot in the past two weeks …

I figured a chicken tractor would make sense, something relatively small that I could use even after I had my regular coop. I looked around for plans online, but couldn’t find anything simple enough. Plus, I wasn’t convinced I would have the capability, or time, to be able to construct one myself anyway. So I started looking around on Craigslist. I found a couple of old, somewhat dilapidated, tractors, but I wanted something that will last for many years and won’t give me splinters. So I found a Craigslist post by someone who builds coops and tractors. So I called them, explained what I was looking for, and within 2 days, I had a brand-new tractor. It’s 6 feet long by 3 feet wide by 2 feet tall. There’s a door on the top that also helps provide shade, which was essential this weekend with temperatures going above 90.

The chicks now have plenty of room to scratch around. I think they are much happier now …

Video of the chicks

The Keeper — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:19:33 +0000

I put together a short video of the Brahma chicks from the past couple of weeks. In the first part, they are about 3 1/2 weeks old and in the second part they are about a month old.

Chicks adapting to new home, plus a name debate

The Keeper — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:28:42 +0000

On Thursday, I picked up 4 Brahma bantam chicks from a local breeder — three light and one dark. They were hatched March 21, so they were just over 3 weeks old. They seem to have adapted to their new home pretty well. For now, they are spending most of their time in the brooder box that I put together a couple of weeks ago. I took some pictures of them outside the box on the first day:

And during the day I’ve also been letting them spend time in a temporary tractor that I set up outside. They like digging around in the dirt, enjoying the fresh air and hunting down lightning bugs.

I’m looking forward to getting my coop in the next couple of weeks, because I think they are going to be ready to be spending most of their time outside pretty soon.

One thing we’re debating in our household is what to name to the chickens, if we’re going to name them at all. We’ve discussed naming them after flowers, the Pac-Man ghosts and girlfriend names from the Seinfeld TV show. Please post any thoughts or suggestions below!