The HoopPen attached to the HoopCoop Update

The sun is out, albeit, brisk. Temps are not getting above mid-60s this weekend. However, the chicks are enjoying the fresh air, and the sun through the door.  On occasion, one or two will pop out into the grass to look for bugs and worms, but mostly like being inside where there's heat radiating from overhead. While we have placed food and water in the pen, we will also keep it inside the hoop coop unless they start getting so fat, that they can't walk.  We don't want them THAT fat!

The heavy water-proof canvas tarps along with the down-filled comforter laying in between, is doing the trick to keep the warmth inside at night. That's our solution for now, until we can come up with something better for next year. 

Next weekend will be the extra lighting set up in the other coops, since we are barely getting 13 hours of sun per day. To keep the layers producing a little better, we need at least 13 hours of sun/light. We set up the lights inside the coops to come on at 4 am for the layers and that way, all fall, winter and spring, they are getting a minimum of 13 hours of light and sun to help with egg production. Additionally, we will take off the sun cloth from the pens, so that any sun that does peek out from the clouds, helps to promote a little extra warmth, and lots of vitamin D. 

We always try to use clear plastic on the pens as rain guards covering over 75% of the pens, but at the same time, there's a gap for ventilation purposes on each side.  We do cover one or both sides of the pens, when there's a strong wind or snow for a little extra protection.

I recognize that some people think we go a bit overboard with protecting our chickens, but the reality, as we have learned, is that the extra protection reduces the stress level for the chickens, and we don't need to feed them any medicated food in order for them to be good egg and meat producers. The layers produce good eggs almost all year long, they don't pick/peck on each other, they forage like "real chickens" are intended to do, and they are not bored because we move their paddocks regularly to fresh grass. We don't pamper them; we do treat them humanely without turning them into pets.

Close up of Hoop Pen	Hoop Coop and Pen is Set up
Cornish X Sunbathing	The goofy Hoop Coop and Hoop Pen
New Welsummer Doing the Sunshine Lean

Hoping we don't have Chick-sicles in the Morning

Today, the cornish cross went outside into the hoop-coop.  It's cooooold tonight, so hopefully they will stay warm enough.  We started with the 50 watt infrared light, but it was barely warming the coop, so we went to the 75 watt.  I just checked on them. It's 45F outside right now, but they are moving around in the coop and not all huddled together, so that's a good sign. We have never tried the fall season for new chicks before, so this is all new territory.  These guys are four weeks old, and have most of their feathers.  Have my fingers crossed that this is going to work.

Update: October 10, 2017
The temps inside the coop dropped pretty low Monday morning, down into the mid 40s(F) and the birds were a bit lethargic Monday morning at 7:30.  Monday  night, we placed a heavy bed comforter and another canvas tarp over the coop. That kept the temps inside the coop about 12 degrees warmer all night. This morning, at 7:30, the temp was 52 inside the coop. We may want to add a blue plastic tarp if it rains tonight, to protect the comforter from getting wet. The chicks were more active and alert this morning, so that's a good sign!

The photos below are from Tuesday morning.  I know it is a goofy look, but, at least it helps to keep the warmth inside the coop.  This coop was originally designed to house two heritage sized turkeys, from spring to fall, so, yah, it is what it is.  To determine the approximate inside temp, we are using a digital terrarium thermometer, with the  readout taped under the flap on the outside of the coop, and the gauge hanging inside, near the middle of the coop, where the chicks can't peck at it.  Plus, in addition to the heat lamp that we have hanging in the coop (a safe distance from the ceiling, and from the birds), we have a 50W LED light on a timer that comes on 12 hours per day to help with the night vs. day situation since the door light, especially on cloudy days, is not enough light for the chicks' circadian cycle.

The chicks are only four weeks old, so they really are not quite ready to deal with the outside temps yet. But they grow quickly into stinky pooping machines, and we could not handle the smell wafting through the garage any longer.

Oh, yah, the white board to the side is the "door cover" to help with a sense of security for the birds at night. The coyotes and raccoons will look through the plexiglass at night, and it scares the birds to see these predators leering at them.  We fasten the board over the plexiglass to impede the view at night.  The coyotes were very active last night in the area, and I had to go check on the birds several times for that, in addition to the cool temps.

The Chip Flickers

The cornish cross are three weeks old now.  The six of them, collectively are drinking more than a quart of water per day, so we are using our larger, three quart waterer.  The base is so large that we have to put it on a small wagon tire to keep the water clean (free of pooh and wood shavings). After a week or two, chicks have a tendency to dig through the savings, looking for things on the "ground" and it's a form of chip flicking that ends up sending those shavings everywhere, including into their feeder, as you can see in the photos below. There's feed under all those shavings, and they will get to it, but we have to dig threw the feeder before throwing a whole batch out and adding fresh feed every day. Normal (heritage) chicks do not eat and drink this much at this age. In about a week, we will start restricting the amount of feed, or they will over eat to the point of not being able to walk.

One of the chicks had a black spot on his/her tail end... now it has black on its wings. So, I guess we will always be able to tell that one, from the others.

All Six Chicks @ 3 wks	Looks Like They Eat Shavings!
Have you heard the one about two chicks walking into the bar?	So what is this stuff, anyways?