Week 1 with the Chicks

Its been a week! The excitement has worn off a little but my wife still accuses me of acting like an 8 year old with a new toy. I can't really blame her as I am pretty gun hoe about the chickens and the fact that I have two living in my backyard, with 4 on the way.

They seem pretty well adjusted but are still pretty skittish. As my father in-law pointed out "they are called chickens not braves". Once I get the coop open the tend to go hide in one of the corners or the jump up into the nest box to get away. I've been visiting daily and pick them up and hold them for a little bit, trying my best to get them used to me. Slowly but surely. We haven't named them yet and I am not sure if we will, but there has been some suggestions. I like Blackie and Chicken Little, my sister wants to give them exotic names, the wife and a friend seem to like Beavis and Butthead. No decisions have been made yet and I also have to consult Mr. Construction so I will keep you posted on the name issue.

The coop seems to be working out great. I have left the chicken door open durning the day a couple of times but the chicks seem content to stay in the coop under the heat lamp. They do wonder around the coop exploring but I guess the run is just to scary to enter quite yet. I am sure that will change once they get some company other than me and the dogs. I am thinking of adding eaves troughs to the coop. As when it rains it runs down the sides and into the run. Not a lot but enough for me to want to do something about it. This also gives me the opportunity to create a watering system for the hens. We do not really need on but the creative wheels are turning and I want to try it out. I hoping to use the gutters to direct the water to a bucket with chicken nipples and have a self watering system. I am going to try and keep this as low cost as possible.


This YouTube video gives you an example of a rainwater system with nipples like I talked about here.