The Should part: I should have waited to get chicks after we built the new coop.The Could have: I could have had electric hooked to the coop, and no dust in the house. Our garage is not heated, so their make-shift brooder is in the utility room with a heat lamp currently.
The Would have: I would have had a brooder inside the new coop, making the transition much easier to introduce them to the hens, and again, no dust and mess in the house.
If you follow my blog, you already know that a few years ago, there was a massacre in the original coop. It was inside a barn, but after 12 years, raccoons and opossums, ripped holes in the chicken wire (rookie mistake in the beginning, don't ever use chicken wire), and killed more than half the chickens and all of the roosters.A friend sold me this coop for $75.00. It worked, but has no ventilation, I have to crawl inside to muck it, and the roosts are on the floor, so we had to install plastic roosts higher inside for them. Feed and water is an issue with this coop too. The windows do not open, and it's a hot house in the summer. The sides do not open from the top to get eggs (which makes no sense to put them at the floor of the coop either). Chickens like to roost high. Laying eggs on the floor would encourage egg eating. The entire layout of this coop make no sense for a proper chicken coop. Anyway . . .
I cannot wait to get started on the new coop. We are currently trying to see if the corners of the cement slab behind it (currently covered with trees, rocks, over grown wild growing things the birds planted) will have even corners to work with. Crossing our fingers it works for the new build.
Back to the title of this post....I have to get the chicks introduced and I have a smaller kennel that will fit inside this coop (for now), where I can introduce the chicks and keep them safe for the meanwhile, and get them out of the house. Whew. I will just pull the plastic tray out at the bottom. Anyway....got it figured out for now.
