First time in the new run

The little chickens spent their first full day outside in the new covered run yesterday... and their first full night outside. WOW, it is all buzzing by so quickly.

The covered run is 8' by 16' made of pressure treated wood frame and hardware cloth stapled to the frame. It is about 6' tall. It has a human size door at one side to be able to go in to clean, feed, water, or visit the birds. Right now the flooring if crushed stone, but this weekend we will probably place red stone pavers for easy cleaning and to be easier on the birds' feet. We are planning a "green area" too where we will have a grassy-park-like area for them to enjoy laying in and eating the fresh grass, we will grow new grass to replace that section as needed, as the girls wear it down.

We will be working on the new coop over the next 2-3 days and plan to have that ready by the weekend for them. We anticipate that to be about 6' by 3', with droppings boards beneath the roosts, a place for food/water inside, and nice external nesting boxes. The nesting boxes will bump-out of the run area for access (by us) from the outside.

They are completely awesome pets. I'm so happy we decided on the chickens. They each have their own personality and are so much fun to watch. If you sit with them and pat your leg, they will hop up to visit you. SO CUTE!

chicks vs chickens

I am just realizing as I'm watching the chicks each day growing more and more feathers and learn to hop higher onto things in their little brooder that I think I no longer have chicks - but small chickens.

They are 3 1/2 weeks old now and are about the size of an adult pigeon. They are able to do some pretty high jumping while flapping and able to zip around in the yard pretty quickly!

We have started on their coop and covered run. The run will be about 8' by 16'in a section of the yard where depending on the time of day either gets full sun or shade. Chickens seem to like basking in the sun while nestled into the grass all stretched out. (though if they want to get out of the sun, they will be able to in the run. They are pretty comical. They are also pretty friendly and if you're sitting down with them - they will come over to inspect you and hop up on your lap to get a closer look.

I can't believe how big they are getting so quickly. They will be moving outside full-time by next weekend. They'll have enough feathers to maintain their body heat, and will really need to be in the bigger space by then!