Chicken Coops for Sale in North Branford, Connecticut
Chicken Coops for Sale in North Branford, Connecticut
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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Chicken Coop Plans Pdf in North Branford, Connecticut
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in North Branford Connecticut" 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 North Branford Connecticut chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in North Branford, Connecticut With the substantial boost in chicken keeping there has been a similarly large surge in the array of poultry paraphernalia on sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in factor. It's likewise a classic instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as various would-be fowl real estate experts market a selection of cottage asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the rate looks eye-catching, the house looks eye-catching, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Surely they recognize a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive and awful cages flooding the market. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was only an expensive stack of fire wood as well as a little flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop And Run For Sale in North Branford, Connecticut
Usually these standardized models are constructed of rapid grown up timber - come the initial decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't shut, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking occupants. The very first cozy day suggests the timber dries out and cracks, the really felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once attractive residential property but considering that the hovel is currently a place for, as well as probably crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would match 4 large hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you left with? A number of joints as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a huge room and also the pop hole door allows enough for the breed you maintain, then the primary requirements of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly likewise naturally try to find the acme to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) leading to dirtied eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house should have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. Your house must have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Understand, air flow works on the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of your home and also at the very same level, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still real, but you must likewise think about the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking thickness for a free array bird is (as well as allow's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens in the house is perhaps improved or far better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close check out several of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow as well as ample nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've got hold of a bargain, but you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer offered the proper therapy. Eventually your chicken and your chicken maintaining encounter will certainly be considerably the far better for it.chick plan
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