We got 27 Red Sussex Cross baby chicks back at the end of April. The coop wasn't quite ready for them yet so we had to make a little pen for them in our unfinished basement. We made it with 2 window wells that's haven't been installed yet. Laid down some plastic and then some puppy training pads ( or puppy pull ups as my daughter called them) and then put down some hay and wood shavings. It worked quite well! And we managed to keep the smell to a minimum.
Only one of the chick had died. So now we have 26. 13 hens and 13 roosters. This is them now...
They are free range, we did have them in a pen for the first little bit. We have a fox that lives in the area so we were nervous about letting them free range. But so far so good. They free range all day now and we haven't had a fox problem YET. In the fall we will butcher the roosters, hopefully my grandma will be able to give us a hand with this! We may keep one or two of the roosters and try our own hatching in the spring. The hens we will keep for eggs. They should start laying in early fall.
They also have recently learned to use the kitty door into the garage. So our garage is now constantly covered in chicken poo. Kinda gross!! One thing I've learned about chickens is NEVER wear flip flops into the coop! The chickens will peck your toes!!
To fun! We never did get out to see those chicks!
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