Single hen

[Jimlaad]

Hi, I recently made a coop and put three Wyandotte in, they were 12 to 14 weeks old, I've wormed them once. At the moment the outside floor is the soil that was already there which is sandy, inside is a layer of woodchip, in the nest box is a thin layer of the tobacco smelling twiggy stuff.

Outside there's a tree stump which they seem to like jumping on to look at me. I had to teach them to go inside the coop to sleep, they slept on the balcony the first night.. duh! So the second and third night I grabbed them and placed them inside on the low bar, after that they've got the hang of it.

The door of the hut has gaps in it (It's made out of the neighbours old shed..) and their door stays open as the area is entirely enclosed in chicken wire or parts of the structure. Is it enough ventilation, or too much?

I'd like to post pictures but that doesn't seem to work..

 

[Cat tails]

Hi! And welcome to the forum!

There is not such a thing as too much ventilation. Although they don’t like drafts. Mine sleep with their door open year round.

Be aware that chicken wire is great for keeping chickens in, but rubbish in keeping foxes out. They are still very young so laying won’t happen for another 2 months. So you can keep the nest box empty till they are about 20 weeks.

It used to be a rule that new posters couldn’t post pictures for their first few posts. Don’t know if that’s still the case, but do try again!