Chicken Coops for Sale in Clanton, Alabama
Chicken Coops for Sale in Clanton, Alabama
Three Forgotten Chicken Coop Design Concepts
You can read about chicken coop design in a lot of places, but what does everyone fail to mention? Here are three chicken coop design concepts that have been pretty much forgotten:
1. Accessibility: If the chicken coop not tall enough to walk around in, it needs to be small enough that you can reach everything from outside
One of our daily-move broiler pens, made from lightweight cattle panels bent into an arch and covered with tarps. Tall enough to stand inside, this is a convenient portable broiler house.
Many chicken coops violate this rule. In some of them, such as the pasture pen designs of Joel Salatin, you end up crawling across chicken poop on your hands and knees if you need to get at things in the back corners. In others, there’s simply no access at all!
The same rules apply for chicken runs: if you can’t walk around inside them, they need to be get-at-able in some other convenient way.
So, unless you make your chicken coops and chicken runs tall enough to walk around in, they need to have:
- A hinged or removable roof.
- Be no more than two feet tall.
- Be no more than two feet wide.
All our houses are now tall enough to stand up in. In fact, my wife Karen’s concept has been widely copied and is now a standard design.
We used to use low houses, but they were too hard to work with, in spite of being based on the widely promoted designs of the day. These were either too tall for us to reach down into (Andy Lee’s “chicken tractors”) or too wide (Joel Salatin’s pasture pens). Most small store-bought chicken coops also lack easy access.
2. Built your chicken houses to accommodate at least six inches of litter.
One of our brooder houses under construction, with concrete floor and pony wall.
that you keep around for a year or more works better than thin litter, but the house has to be built with deep litter in mind:
- Put the bottom of the door 6-12 inches above floor level. (This also helps keep the chickens from instantly escaping when you open the door.)
- Use some kind of rot-resistant materials or sheathing for the bottom foot or more. Both our brooder houses have a concrete floor and concrete “pony walls” to create a rot-proof, rat-proof house. But a wooden house with metal or plastic sheathing at the bottom of the walls will also prevent rot.
3. Don’t let the coop become a tumbleweed!
Most coops use lightweight construction and can be blown over in heavy winds. This is especially true of portable coops. We’ve had at least half a dozen coops blow over at one time or another. This always causes serious damage and usually destroys the coop, injuring and killing chickens at the same time.
To prevent this, staking the coop down down works best, and weighting them down is second-best. We’ve had excellent results from staking down just a single corner. For portable houses, pounding a T-post outside a corner of the house and tying them together with rope works fine.
Related
Robert Plamondon has written three books, received over 30 U.S. patents, founded several businesses, and is an expert on free-range chickens. His publishing company, , is a treasure trove of the best poultry books of the last 100 years.
Chicken Coop Run Plans in Clanton, Alabama
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Clanton Alabama" into any one of the numerous search engines and a wealth of information will pop up. This information will provide links to other websites that will be informative and will provide the right direction for finding Clanton Alabama chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Clanton, Alabama With the huge increase in poultry maintaining there has been a just as big increase in the range of fowl materiel for sale. Fowl housing is a case in point. It's also a classic example of the great old bandwagon being got on as numerous potential poultry real estate professionals market a selection of lodging declaring to be the ideal solution to your chicken real estate needs. Frequently the price looks desirable, your house looks desirable, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap and awful coops swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've checked a number of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was nothing but an expensive pile of fire wood and a small flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Designs in Clanton, Alabama
More often than not these standardized designs are built of rapid grown up hardwood - come the very first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that won't shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The first cozy day means the wood dries as well as fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their as soon as attractive apartment however considering that the hovel is currently a haven for, as well as possibly crawling with, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A few hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large room and the pop opening doorway allows sufficient for the breed you keep, then the main needs of real estate come down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. The majority of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will likewise normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce one of the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries can happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally the house ought to have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of the house. Your house should have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Realize, air flow works with the principle of cozy air leaving via a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of holes on opposite walls of your home as well as at the very same degree, this is just what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, but you must additionally think about the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a free variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for keeping some chickens in your home is possibly enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close look at several of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, proper ventilation and ample nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get just what you spend for". You could assume you've got hold of a bargain, however you and also your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and also it will certainly last for a few decades, otherwise longer provided the right therapy. In the long run your chicken as well as your poultry maintaining encounter will be considerably the far better for it.diy chicken
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