With the really warm spring this year, I was able to pop the peeps outside right on time. Even though we had a few cool (40F) nights, they did well. Not fully feathered, I decided to place their chick brooder warmer by Brinsea in the coop. They like to sit on it at this point, so it's doing the job for the next few weeks.
Since our three small coops and the free-range pens are still inhabited, I decided to dust off the emergency coop I purchased last year. We had to do a few modifications to ensure that the flooring would not fall out. The angles were rather flimsy and the coop would easily shift when the winds blew. I think we have it stabilized now.
For a protective run, I have the dog pen set up until the other pen shows up. To keep the girls in and the hawks out, I made a dome with arched 10' long PVC pipes that form a cross tied in the middle. I placed bird netting over it, then fastened it to the pen. When it started raining last week, put a tarp over the dome. Also, I hammered stakes on four sides to secure the pen from being knocked over by a critter of any type and it should prevent any critters from crawling under the pen.
Since our three small coops and the free-range pens are still inhabited, I decided to dust off the emergency coop I purchased last year. We had to do a few modifications to ensure that the flooring would not fall out. The angles were rather flimsy and the coop would easily shift when the winds blew. I think we have it stabilized now.
For a protective run, I have the dog pen set up until the other pen shows up. To keep the girls in and the hawks out, I made a dome with arched 10' long PVC pipes that form a cross tied in the middle. I placed bird netting over it, then fastened it to the pen. When it started raining last week, put a tarp over the dome. Also, I hammered stakes on four sides to secure the pen from being knocked over by a critter of any type and it should prevent any critters from crawling under the pen.
Anyways, the young pullets are now about seven weeks of age and their hackle coloring is showing up in their feathering. Soon, their waddles will begin to appear and their combs will turn red. Then they will be well on their way to joining the rest of our laying flock. :)
| Date | Weeks | Event |
| 03/24/15 | 0 | Chicks Hatched |
| 03/29/15 | 1 | Wings getting coloring |
| 04/11/15 | 3 | Combs started to pop up and black streaks on face are fading |
| 04/17/15 | 4 | Long necks and new Feathers |
| 04/27/15 | 5 | Gold starting to show in hackle/neck feathers |
| 05/04/15 | 6 | Mostly feathered = Outside in Coop |
Here is a great representation of a Welsummer hen on jackiekoerner.com in order to compare the coloring with age.
