Adventures with chicks (pt. 6)

One day before turning 7 weeks old, our chicks had to move house again. I feel bad that they don't have the ability to fly up on the side of the baby gate to roost anymore, but as they get bigger they create more dust. I prefer not to have my house smell like a chicken coop, so they relocated to the garage.

All 9 of the chicks in their new home

We have a really large metal dog crate that they got relocated to, and a large (yet small) branch was fed through the bars in the back section to allow for them to still roost if they want. Often times they still prefer to just plop together in the straw to sleep.

Of course, now our garage smells like chickens, but that is much better than a room inside. We often open our garage door and the back door to the garage to let the air circulate through to help cut down on smell, but it is going to smell a bit like chicken until we move them outside.

Though I feel bad for making them fully enclosed (versus an open top like they had) they are a bit more at ease when the kids come near them because the kids can't just reach down and try to grab them. I also feel bad about the size, wishing it was so much larger so they can roam far and wide, but I keep reminding myself it's only temporary, and that they have it much better than a conventional laying hen that is kept in battery cages that are so small they can't even stand up and can just poke their head out to eat/drink. At least my chicks have enough room that they can literally run around, fly about a bit, and have space to roost.

You can see the branch to roost on if you look at the left side of the picture

Soon I'll have to find homes for a few of these girls, as we don't have room to add 9 more chickens to our coop. Well, going back to the battery cages bit, we technically do have room, but we would rather not crowd our flock too much.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.