Chicken Coops for Sale in Strasburg, Colorado
Chicken Coops for Sale in Strasburg, Colorado
Chicken coops for beginners – a primer!
Your chickens will need a safe dry and well ventilated place to roost at night or to be in bad weather. So here is a chicken coops for beginners primer!
Just cute chicks!
Chicken coops for beginners – things to consider!
We have had a variety of coops since we first started with chickens. We have had old wooden crates converted to a basic house through to our latest construction. We have learned much from each design and have tried to build a better coop for both the chickens and us each time we have had to reconstruct. The only reoccurring theme is that we have tried to use as many recycled items as we could….more to save costs than any other noble reason.
To get some inspiration, have a look at .
The chickens in the new coop
Here are the things that we now consider when we are designing our coops.
Safe Is the coop secure from other animals trying to get in? Here in the NE of the USA we worry about foxes, coyotes, raccoons etc. So it needs to be a design that can’t be broken into, ripped open, lifted up or turned over. In Australia I would be also trying to keep out snakes. Out coop lets in a chipmunk and a squirrel – they get a free feed but don’t do any other damage.
Airy Even in our cold climate, we have a well ventilated coop. Chickens seem to cope extremely well in the cold (ours did great in three months of very bitter winter when it did not get above freezing). So they don’t need a coop that is centrally heated. So good ventilation without being breezy on the birds is perfect.
Chickens on ice!
You don’t need it be be insulated and have central heating. On the really cold days and nights when the thermometer reading was way below freezing we run a red heating lamp to provide a little comfort.
Dry Damp chickens are not happy chickens…and will probably end up as sick chickens. Your coop needs to always be dry. So it has to be up off the ground, a roof to stop rain and/or snow dripping in and a way to open it up in case it does get damp inside. We have stopped providing drinking water in our coop unless its winter (with a water warmer) because the chickens just made a wet mess!
Roosting poles
Chickens need to be able to roost on a perch to sleep, just like all birds do at night (ok …emus don’t). Your chickens needs to have an old broom handle, tree branch or other item to settle on inside the coop. We have four feet of old curtain rod and all six adult birds are very happy. When we get more chickens (the coop could take another dozen) we will install more perches.The new coop’s roosting pole.
Nesting boxes Your girls will appreciate a place to lay their eggs. Some people like to build nesting boxes inside the coop. We found that having nesting boxes that have easy access for humans to collect eggs are great, however our free ranging girls like to lay in a spot in our barn rather than the nesting boxes. Inside our coop the nesting boxes are cut down plastic buckets and these are only used if we are late in letting them out and one girl just can’t wait.
The plastic nesting boxes
Easy to clean We use the deep litter method – which is just code for laying a deep pile of old hay onto the floor of the coop. We clean it out every few months and find that it works great. On past coops it was quite a chore to get into the coop and clean it. With our current design we made a flap on one wall so we have great access for cleaning. We also made the coop tall and added two cut down doors so we can get inside both from the outside and from inside the barn in winter.
Front of the coop – see the lower flap we can open to clean it out – now its a 5 min job!
Chicken coops for beginners – why do it!
Building the coop can be a great family affair. We collected materials from our dump for a few months and then built the structure as a lean-to off the barn. That way we could have a door to the inside of the barn so during winter the chickens could use the barn to roam around if they did not want to venture out into the snow. We also have a door on the outside of the coop and a window on the south side – so it gets loads of light and is easy to clean and air out.
The coop framed up
Coop finished
So far this chicken coop has been perfect! Easy for us to get into. Easy to clean. But most of all, the chickens seem happy to call it home! Using recycled materials has kept our costs low as well!
Jen and Madie ‘fancy up’ the coop with paint.
We hope this chicken coops for beginners primer will help you have happier and safer chickens!
Chicken Coop And Run Plans in Strasburg, Colorado
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Strasburg Colorado" 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 Strasburg Colorado chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Strasburg, Colorado With the big increase in poultry keeping there has actually been an equally big increase in the array of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in point. It's additionally a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as different would-be poultry housing professionals market a variety of cottage declaring to be the ideal remedy to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the cost looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable and also nasty coops swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was just a pricey stack of firewood and a small flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Roost Ideas in Strasburg, Colorado
Usually these mass produced designs are built of rapid grown hardwood - come the first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The very first warm day means the lumber dries as well as fractures, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as desirable property however considering that the hovel is now a haven for, and also most likely crawling with, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly match 4 large chickens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you left with? A couple of joints as well as some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a large room as well as the pop hole door allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main demands of housing come down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally normally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create one of the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is certainly much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your home they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home needs to have a least one nest box for each three birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of your home. Your home needs to have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the coldest of weather. Be aware, ventilation works with the principle of warm air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of the house as well as at the very same degree, this is exactly what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still real, yet you ought to also consider the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful equipping density for a totally free array bird is (as well as allow's encounter it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is potentially improved or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close check out a few of the bargain residences - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, correct ventilation and also sufficient nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get what you spend for". You could think you've got a bargain, yet you and your flock might rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the right therapy. Eventually your chicken as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will certainly be much the better for it.build chicken
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