[stamford]

Hi gang, long time no see 

Anyways, we lost a couple of girls just before Christmas to old charlie but the remaining 3 seem to have got over the initial shock so I'm now looking at extending the run to make it wider.
Heres the initial set up

Length is fine    just think that making it twice or three times wider would benefit the girls more.

Also, a friend is offering us some chicks, not sure whether we should take them as we've never had chicks before, obviousley dont want males so how do you sex them ? Is there an easy way of doing so ? And also, how would you introduce these to the existing girls, I mean you cant just put them in with them, presume its a gradual thing and keep them seperate ?? Blimey, its like starting from scratch again 

Once the run is extended we'll be getting some more POL anyway but we have an old playhouse that doesnt get the use anymore so I'm looking at intriducing that as a coop, any thoughts ?

[dizzylizzie]

Owww, in my humble opinion if you are going to extend 2 or 3 times more i wouldnt add any more, it would give the ones you have loads more space

[Jeanette]

Like you i have got some older girls and i have got some 8 week old chicks. I have got them seperate but they can still see each other and have a chat through the wire mesh. I was thinking about putting them together when they are about 16 weeks old i know they have to go through the pecking order which is horrible but i am hoping that as they can see each other and have a chat that it wont be to bad.
 If it was me i would convert the playhouse for chickens it would save a bit of money i am no carpenter but i dont think it would be to hard.

[stamford]

Must admit I'm not too handy around the house 

Was actually thinking of using the existing coop one end and then joining the playhouse at the other.... How hard can it be 

Thinking about the roof, do you reckon the whole run should be covered or should I leave some exposed to mother nature ? I want to get away from the felt roofs because of the issues with Red Mite, so looking at Onduline... Does anyone else use this ?

[Casey76]

Hi Stamford, when you say "chicks" how old are they?  I assume that you know they will need to have artificial heat until at least 6 weeks/are fully feathered, even in this nice warm weather?

Sexing chicks is a bit of a gamble, unless they are auto sexing on hatching... see my post on "age old question... pullet or cockerel" lol.

You can vent sex at a day old (for experts), feather sex from a couple of days (certain breeds, especially the heavy breeds, the girls develop longer flight feathers than the boys - whose flight feathers stay the same length as the covert feathers - this is by mms, so you need a good eye!), by 6 to 8 weeks you can often tell by the face furniture (comb and wattles) - boys will have a much larger comb and wattles, and they will be much redder than a pullet - but again, it's not 100%, especially if you don't have another of the same breed to compare against (again see my post )  The most reliable way of sexing is waiting until they either crow or lay an egg I'm afraid - crowing often comes first though, at anything over 8 - 10 weeks.

As to introductions, well, I put my chicks (who were 5 weeks at the time) in their pen and after a week took the pen down so the chicks and hens mingled.  The chicks are right at the very bottom of the pecking order, and even after another 2 weeks there is still quite a lot of squawking going on, as the older hens chase the younger ones out of their (the old ones) house, or away from the treat bowls - but my hens have about 120m2 of space, so there are plenty of places to hide, perch, sunbathe etc, and I have 3 feeding stations and 3 watering stations, so no one is completely on top of each other.

Keep in mind that DEFRA states that each hen should have 1m2 of run space, and that this is an absolute minimum... most people try for at least 2m2, and the more space the merrier!

[stamford]

They'll be a minimum of 6 weeks, I think a school is incubating them and they study the initial growth.. I think thats what they're doing anyway.

May just go for the POL ones once the run is made bigger