Chicken Coops for Sale in Summers, Arkansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Summers, Arkansas
Our Chicken Coop Design – Front Elevation (Part 2 of 3)
Okay, I lied. I had hoped to finish up writing on our chicken coop design with this post, but I ran out of time and markers…seriously – my gray marker ran out. So today I’m going to focus on the front elevation and next week I’ll wrap it up with the other 3 elevations.
Front Elevation of the Coop
When designing your coop you really need to think through ventilation for a number of reasons: respiratory health of the chickens; drying out the moisture and their manure keeps down the smells and the potential of the hens getting sick. I made ours super-ventilated by covering the entire front of our coop with hardware cloth. We may have gone overboard, but it’s better to err on the side of too much ventilation in a coop than too little…and because Atlanta has a fairly temperate climate, I think we’re good. That said, you do have to consider strong winds – particularly in the colder months. That’s why Britt and I crafted Roman shade-like curtains out of painter’s drop cloths for the front and the windows on the other 3 sides of the coop. It was quite inexpensive and fairly easy to do…particularly if you strategically use the hems already sewn in. These curtains will give our ladies a refuge from the cold winds – protecting the exposed areas of their bodies (combs, wattles, and feet).
Here are a few other things to note about the front elevation of our coop:
- Again, entire area is covered in hardware cloth. I could have used chicken wire on the top (bottom needs hardware cloth to keep out critters), but I had enough hardware cloth and I thought it looked better for the entire area to be consistent.
- The height of the walls are 6.5’…which is plenty high (for me at least) to be able to walk through the door…and there is plenty of height inside, since there is no ceiling (just the rafters and tin roof above).
- 24″ doors were constructed out of pressure-treated wood and painted the same color as the doors of our home.
- To clean things up a bit and to cover up where the pieces of hardware cloth met, I added 1″ trim on the outside of each 2×4 and painted it and the siding of the rest of the coop the same color gray as our house.
- We used gate latches as handles. If you do as well, make sure you make it so that you won’t get locked in when the doors close. To do that, I simply drilled a hole just above the latch and attached a long, thin chain that I threaded through the hole…allowing me to open the latch from inside. Don’t use string or twine…I found that out the hard way. String will wear out and break – leaving you stranded inside. Fortunately when it happened to me, one of my girls was within shouting distance.
- We were running out of hardware cloth when we were finishing the gable, so we simply filled in the middle space with a board and painted it gray. To make sense of this oddly proportioned space and to bring a little bit of character to the coop, I hung a set of antlers from a Mule Deer I shot several years ago with my dad in Wyoming.
So there’s the front elevation. We are really pleased with it…it’s done what we set out to do – make a more than livable space for our chickens (and bunny), while still being attractive. Now we may be a bit too particular, but I really think having an attractive coop in a nice setting has made raising chickens not only sustainable, but more enjoyable. So sure, you could build a coop that is purely functional, but if it looks like a hunk of junk, is that really something you want to see every day…sometimes several times? We thought not.
Next week I’ll wrap things up on our chicken coop design…but until then, please let me know if you have any other questions about our coop or raising chickens. I could perhaps work my answers into the next post.
Take care,
PS: Here are the links to and of Our Chicken Coop Design…and the link to .
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Baby Chick Hatcheries in Summers, Arkansas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Summers Arkansas" 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 Summers Arkansas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Summers, Arkansas With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has been a just as large surge in the range of chicken stuff on sale. Poultry real estate is a case in point. It's likewise a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as various would-be chicken housing professionals market an array of accommodation claiming to be the optimal option to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the price looks appealing, your house looks desirable, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Surely they recognize a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous inexpensive and also nasty cages swamping the market. I recognize this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The result was only a costly heap of fire wood and a little group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Baby Chick For Sale in Summers, Arkansas
Most of the time these standardized models are constructed of quick grown up timber - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The first warm and comfortable day implies the wood dries and splits, the really felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their once appealing apartment but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and also most likely abounding, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would fit four big hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A number of joints and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole doorway is big enough for the breed you keep, then the main demands of housing come down to three points which will specify the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch must be more than the nest box access as chickens will likewise naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your house they must 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 ahead. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house needs to have adequate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Know, air flow works on the principle of cozy air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of openings on opposite walls of your house and also at the very same degree, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, but you must additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a complimentary range bird is (and allow's face it, among the motivations for keeping some hens in the house is possibly enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, proper air flow and sufficient nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You might assume you've got a bargain, however you and also your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house as well as it will last for a few decades, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Ultimately your poultry and also your chicken keeping encounter will certainly be much the far better for it.coops coops
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