Chicken Coops for Sale in Clopton, Alabama
Chicken Coops for Sale in Clopton, Alabama
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
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So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Chicken Coop On Wheels in Clopton, Alabama
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Clopton 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 Clopton Alabama chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Clopton, Alabama With the massive boost in chicken maintaining there has been an equally large increase in the range of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Chicken real estate is a case in factor. It's also a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different prospective chicken housing professionals peddle an array of lodging declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing demands. Typically the price looks attractive, your house looks desirable, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Definitely they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical as well as unpleasant coops flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was only an expensive stack of firewood and also a little flock of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Facts in Clopton, Alabama
Generally these mass produced designs are built of fast grown up hardwood - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a door that will not close, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking inhabitants. The first cozy day implies the wood dries out as well as splits, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their when desirable building but since the hovel is currently a place for, and also probably abounding, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 huge hens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large space as well as the pop opening door is big sufficient for the type you keep, after that the primary demands of housing come down to three points which will define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Many types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally normally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home should have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. Your home needs to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will accumulate every evening, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation deals with the concept of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of holes on contrary wall surfaces of the house and also at the very same level, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still real, however you should likewise consider the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a cost-free array bird is (as well as let's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is potentially boosted or much better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the right perches, correct air flow and also enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get exactly what you spend for". You could assume you've grabbed a bargain, yet you as well as your group might rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and it will certainly last for a few decades, if not longer offered the proper therapy. Eventually your fowl as well as your poultry maintaining encounter will be a lot the far better for it.build plan
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