Chicken Coops for Sale in Fairfield, Alabama
Chicken Coops for Sale in Fairfield, Alabama
building our homestead | the chicken coop.
When Justin and I had been , he took me to his family’s farm for Thanksgiving. I was already nervous as it was – he was a new boyfriend and I was meeting his family – but by the end of the weekend they’d coerced convinced me to drive a skid loader, fire off a few rounds at some coffee cans, and forage for my own breakfast in the chicken coop. When we came back the next spring, there were a handful of baby chicks fluttering around the yard and I thought they were so precious. Uncle Bill handed me one, nearly weightless in my palm, all its hollow bones twitching against my fingers. It made me nervous, how fragile it felt and how anxious it seemed to get back to its Mama Bird.
But the eggs? The eggs I loved. I loved the plastic Easter egg sitting inside the nesting box (to encourage the ladies to lay there); I loved the varying shades of brown, the speckled pattern and the occasional pastel green egg that appeared. They made the white grocery store eggs look so bland, so boring. And when we brought the eggs inside to fry up alongside our buttered toast, their yolks were electric orange. I’d never seen anything like it before (they grow pumpkins on the farm and feed the chickens with the broken pieces, thus the late-autumn yolks are especially colorful). I slid two over-easy’s onto my plate and split them open with the prong of my fork and watched the yolk puddle out to my toast. I think about that breakfast a lot, about the smell of the barn early in the morning; how Justin and I were living outside our comfort zones and learning to love each other; how he casually mentioned that, one day, we might have a farm.
We don’t have a full-blown farm, not by a long shot, but after trying to and finally accepting this is where we’ll stay, we decided to start building our backyard homestead. Justin bought the blueprints for a chicken coop and set to work in our garage over the winter. We poured the concrete footers together before Christmas, before the frost would come, and Justin etched our initials into the last one while it was still wet. He spent hours under the fluorescent lights of the garage bay, hammering and nailing and sometimes painting. And finally, after months of work, we hauled it outside with a trailer and some extra manpower.
Most of the books we read said chickens were low-maintenance, that they don’t need much besides a cardboard box and some fresh water. But my husband, God love him, is an overachiever. So our chickens will have the Ritz Carlton of chicken coops to call home. And this coming weekend, our chicks will arrive! We have nine in total – three each of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Red, and Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers). They’ll live in a brooder box in our garage for the first few weeks to stay toasty warm, and by the end of May or June we’ll move them out to the luxury hotel we call a chicken coop. It isn’t quite finished, we still need to add shingles and chicken wire all around, but I’m so proud of it. I’m proud of what we’re doing, how we live, how we eat, how we teach our kids about food and about life.
So cheers to the homestead! We’re finally doing it.
***
First few photos are iPhone.
Resources:
Chicken Coop Basics in Fairfield, Alabama
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Fairfield 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 Fairfield Alabama chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Fairfield, Alabama With the substantial boost in chicken maintaining there has been a similarly big increase in the variety of chicken materiel on sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in factor. It's likewise a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective poultry housing professionals peddle a variety of lodging asserting to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Often the price looks appealing, your house looks desirable, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and nasty cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was only a pricey stack of firewood as well as a tiny group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Out Of Pallets in Fairfield, Alabama
More often than not these standardized designs are built of fast grown up wood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't close, or tearing the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The first warm day suggests the wood dries and splits, the really felt roof bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching home yet because the hovel is currently a place for, and most likely abounding, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit four large hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large area and also the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you keep, then the main requirements of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will certainly define the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise normally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce one of the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home ought to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. The house needs to have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation deals with the concept of warm air leaving through a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the same degree, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, yet you ought to also think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a complimentary range bird is (and also allow's encounter it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens in the house is possibly improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the right perches, proper ventilation and also sufficient nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". You might believe you've got a deal, but you and also your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and also it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the proper therapy. In the end your poultry as well as your poultry maintaining experience will certainly be much the far better for it.chickens build
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