Chicken Coops for Sale in Fulton, Alabama
Chicken Coops for Sale in Fulton, Alabama
Chicken Coops — The Top 5 Requirements
Chicken Coops – What You Need
Happy, healthy chickens need proper housing, but knowing what you need may seem daunting. Don’t let choosing the house for your chickens intimidate you. Meeting the needs of your flock, whether building your own chicken castle or buying ready-made, is easy and should provide for four basic needs.
- Protection from the elements
- Protection from predators
- Place for laying eggs
- A roost at night
The Components of a Chicken Coop
As I wrote in my , chickens have an innate homing instinct, keeping your flock close to home. Our feathered kids are such home bodies that even free ranging, every night before sundown all our chickens are perched in the coop. I always recommend a protected place for your flock to come home and roost for the night, even when free ranging.
You don’t need a poultry castle for your chickens to come home to. come in many shapes, sizes, and designs, from fancy to plain. Believe it or not, your chickens won’t care what the coop looks like as long as it provides the above four basic needs.
With that said, before deciding what type of coop you are going to buy or build, you must determine what coop features are needed that most closely conform to a chicken’s natural behavior. Hopefully I can help you understand what you need in the design of your chicken coop.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. All chicken coops need 3 things; a roof, 4 walls, and a doorway for entering and leaving. The design and the materials used for the chicken coop is up to you. As long as it is mostly draft free (you still need healthy ventilation), your choices are endless.
Your coop space is based on the number of chickens you plan to house. A good rule of thumb is 4 square feet of floor space per large chicken and 3 square feet for the smaller bantam breeds. Also consider the ease of cleaning when choosing your coop design; you’ll be glad you did.
Security
Making a chicken coop predator free is the most important part of building a home for your flock. Your coop must be secure from the top, bottom, and all sides. When looking at any pre-made coop or chicken coop building plans, consider all angles for security. Not only should you consider the security of the coop itself, but the security of the yard and run as well.
When choosing the wire for your run and coop, we advise steering clear of standard chicken wire. While it works well for keeping your chickens contained it’s not entirely predator proof. Because the holes in standard chicken wire are large, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes can still reach through the mesh, causing harm to your chickens. Always use a small hole wire like hardware cloth with ½ inch openings.
Another consideration when building the chicken yard or run, is airborne predators like hawks. You must include covering the top of the run as well. Our chicken runs use the same size mesh fencing on the top as the sides.
Finally, there are predators from below, such as rats and mice. These critters are attracted to the feed and droppings and like to burrow under your coop. Protect your chickens by using a coop with a floor built into it or burying small mesh fencing below the coop and extending it about 12 inches out on all sides.
The Outside Run
All coops need a connecting chicken run or pen. Chickens need access to the outside to do all those “chicken things”, like dirt baths, catching bugs, scratching dirt, or just relaxing in the sunshine or shade.
Ideally, your chicken run should have 10 square feet of ground space per full size chicken. The smaller bantam breeds require less, about 7 square feet per chicken. If your chickens free range the majority of the day, you can get by with less space.
Laying Boxes
If you want eggs, you need laying boxes. These can be as fancy or as plain as you like, just as long as they are about 12” x 12” and raised off the ground a few inches. You need one box for every 4 laying hens. Boxes should comfortably fit the chicken and have low enough sides for the hens to step over. Be sure to keep your boxes lined with clean straw or other bedding.
Roosting Perches
All birds roost, including chickens. Your coop needs a roosting bar or something off the ground on which your chickens can perch. We strongly suggest having perches both inside the coop and outside in the run area.
When figuring roosting pole size, provide 5-10” of space per chicken and 10” of space between each pole if you are using more than one. Multiple poles also need grading like ladders so the farthest pole is several inches higher than the next.
There are many shapes, sizes, and styles of chicken coops to choose from. Making the right choice for your needs is important, and all coops need to contain all necessary elements.
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Chicken Coop Kits For Sale in Fulton, Alabama
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Fulton 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 Fulton Alabama chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Fulton, Alabama With the huge increase in chicken maintaining there has been a similarly huge increase in the array of fowl stuff on sale. Fowl housing is an instance in factor. It's likewise a traditional example of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential poultry real estate experts pitch an array of cottage claiming to be the suitable option to your chicken housing requirements. Frequently the rate looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable as well as unpleasant coops swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've checked a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was only a costly heap of firewood and also a little flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits Ebay in Fulton, Alabama
Usually these mass produced versions are built of fast grown up lumber - come the first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking citizens. The very first warm day suggests the lumber dries and also splits, the felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching apartment however considering that the hovel is currently a place for, as well as most likely abounding, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A few hinges and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large room as well as the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main requirements of real estate come down to 3 points which will certainly define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many types of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly likewise normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is certainly much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your home they must be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home must have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds and these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest location of the house. The house needs to have adequate air flow: without it then condensation will build up every evening, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, ventilation works on the concept of cozy air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of openings on other walls of your house and at the same level, this is exactly what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached then the factors above are still true, however you ought to additionally think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping density for a complimentary range bird is (and also let's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is potentially boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close check out some of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the best perches, proper air flow as well as adequate nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You may think you've grabbed a deal, however you and your flock might rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer given the correct therapy. Ultimately your fowl as well as your chicken maintaining encounter will be considerably the far better for it.coops plan
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