Chicken Coops for Sale in Coulterville, California
Chicken Coops for Sale in Coulterville, California
Eggs! Raise Your Own Hens In A Chicken Coop Built From Scrap
From a long line of egg farmers in Holland, Karin’s dad finally builds her a chicken coop
Where bylaws allow, or can be bypassed, I highly recommend building your own chicken coop. Imagine getting fresh, free-range organic eggs every day? When my parents came to visit me in Jaffa a few months ago, Dad found himself bored. Back in Holland, my family the Van Der Meers were one of the biggest egg producers in the country before the Depression. So you could say, eggs are in our genes. With Dad nothing to do for a few weeks, I brought up the idea of having him build me a chicken coop. That got him kind of excited. He foraged for wood in my backyard and came up with a coop that resembles a bus stop. The Chicken Express? Step right up and I’ll tell you how to build a coop in a few easy steps. And no you don’t have to invest much, unless you want to make your coop designer.
In warm climates very little is needed to keep your hens happy – basically a roof over their heads, a lengthwise pole for curling their toes around when they sleep at night (you might want to raise it high where feral cats might stalk your chickens), and some fencing to keep them from, well, flying the coop.
Here are our chickens before we bought them.
As it turns out, Bedouin chickens which we bought in the Negev Desert, are very agile creatures and even sleep in our blackberry tree some nights. The fencing doesn’t help them that much, but it does keep them contained somewhat, and out of the mouth of our crazy dog.
Here’s what you’ll need to build the coop:
- A corner on your roof, garden, or backyard for the chicken coop, a couple meters by a couple meters at least
- An old door or piece of plywood for a roof
- Some plywood for the sides
- Chicken wire, if you want to contain the chickens outside the coop (they eat weeds so consider letting them run loose)
- A wooden pole
- Some boxes, or crates for roosting. Throw in something soft.
- Feed
Find a corner to build against, saving yourself the need to build 2 extra walls. Be lazy. Make sure there’s a roof for the chickens to protect them against the sun, and rain, and in the winter if it gets cold, you can throw a carpet over the sides to keep the cold wind out. Make sure they have three walls.
We built a 2 meter or so pole, installed horizontally, down low about 50 cm off the ground but noticed some street cats were preying on our hens and raised the pole to about 1.5 meters off the ground. Most chickens can fly to this height but see what works for yours. It really doesn’t take much to make your chickens happy. But they do need a pole to sleep on at night.
What you feed your chickens:
- A basic seed/corn meal
- Compost – can include eggshells (ours really love labane cheese – could be because they are Bedouin hens)
- Garden weeds and greens (let them go wild!)
- Worms and bugs (they feed themselves while aerating the ground)
- Endless supply of water
Chickens do need basic feed, that which can be bought at a feedlot. Some inquiring around on where to find chickens and feed might be in order. Animal markets for livestock might be your best bet. Ask around in places like that. We bought a huge drum of feed consisting of corn meal and other seeds, and feed our chickens a regular diet of all the vegetable-based compost that would otherwise be composted. But don’t worry. Chicken doo makes an excellent compost too. One of my friends can’t eat eggs unless they are free-range and fed with organic oats. So it’s really up to you to decide how to feed your chickens, depending on your health needs and sensitivities.
We have five chickens and one rooster. The rooster is just for the fun of it. You don’t need one if you have neighbors nearby who will complain about the noise. And roosters DO make noise, waking us up as early as 1:30 am.
Bedouin women (crouching like crows) selling “bede” hens at the market
Unlike commercially-raised chickens, our hens don’t get “sunshine” 24 hours a day. Some parts of the year the chickens won’t lay. They will molt and take a break. And not every chicken will lay every day once she starts. We bought young chickens and it took them a couple of months to start laying. Now three of the five are laying, but like I said, not every day.
See a video interview with my dad about chickens
We bought our chickens at a Bedouin market (for about $10 each) because it was important for my husband that we have a “wild” variety – chickens that haven’t been genetically manipulated. Our eggs are on the small to medium size, the yolks absolutely huge compared to the white. One hen is laying eggs with the most delightful little beige specks on them.
Dad (left), the closest link to my family of egg people is determined that next time he comes to visit me in the Middle East he’ll be smuggling in white hen eggs – “the real good layers” – from Canada. He keeps asking me about building an incubator for these eggs to become hatchlings. Hopefully it will happen and when it does, I’ll report it here on Green Prophet.
Meanwhile, I am dreaming about how many eggs I will collect tomorrow. And how exciting it will be for my little baby daughter, when she gets bigger, to go out and collect them like I did when I was a little girl (that’s me in the top photo). My family had a coop in a suburban town outside Toronto until our evil neighbour complained and we had to get rid of it.
Before the complaints, I would go out and collect our eggs and sell them to our neighbors for a dollar a dozen, to cover the price of feed. Seriously, it was so much fun. If this blogger, and lazy environmentalist who is addicted to the computer can start a coop, you can too. Get cracking and join the new movement of urban farming.
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Baby Chick For Sale in Coulterville, California
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Coulterville California" 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 Coulterville California chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Coulterville, California With the significant rise in poultry keeping there has been an equally large increase in the array of chicken paraphernalia on sale. Poultry housing is a case in factor. It's additionally a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be fowl real estate specialists peddle a variety of holiday accommodation declaring to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the rate looks appealing, the house looks desirable, hell even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Surely they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and horrible coops swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was nothing but an expensive stack of fire wood as well as a tiny group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Construction in Coulterville, California
Typically these standardized versions are constructed of rapid grown up lumber - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The first warm and comfortable day implies the wood dries out as well as fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as attractive property however considering that the hovel is now a place for, and also possibly abounding, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would suit 4 large chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big room and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main needs of real estate come down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Many types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be above the nest box entry as chickens will likewise naturally look for the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home must have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and these must be off the ground and in the darkest area of your home. The house should have ample air flow: without it then condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Be aware, ventilation works with the concept of cozy air leaving through a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on contrary walls of your home and also at the exact same level, this is exactly what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, yet you need to also consider the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a complimentary variety bird is (and also let's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in your home is potentially improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close look at a few of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, proper ventilation and also ample nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You could think you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and also it will certainly last for a few years, otherwise longer offered the appropriate treatment. Ultimately your poultry and your fowl keeping encounter will be considerably the far better for it.coop coops
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