Chicken Coops for Sale in Zolfo Springs, Florida
Chicken Coops for Sale in Zolfo Springs, Florida
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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A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Zolfo Springs Florida" 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 Zolfo Springs Florida chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Zolfo Springs, Florida With the massive boost in poultry maintaining there has been an equally huge surge in the array of chicken materiel for sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in point. It's likewise a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be chicken real estate specialists pitch a range of lodging declaring to be the optimal option to your chicken housing needs. Often the price looks appealing, your house looks desirable, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive and awful coops swamping the market. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail appeared. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood and also a small group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Yard Design in Zolfo Springs, Florida
Generally these standardized versions are constructed of rapid grown up timber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The first cozy day indicates the timber dries as well as splits, the really felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their once appealing home yet due to the fact that the hovel is currently a haven for, and possibly abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit four big hens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you entrusted? A few joints as well as some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large room as well as the pop opening door is big enough for the breed you keep, after that the main demands of housing boil down to three factors which will define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Many types of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally normally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries can happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is clearly much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these should be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your home must have sufficient air flow: without it after that condensation will accumulate every evening, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the principle of warm air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on contrary walls of your home as well as at the very same degree, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still real, but you should likewise take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful stocking thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (as well as let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at a few of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, proper air flow and enough nest boxes for a practical number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may assume you've grabbed a bargain, yet you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer given the proper therapy. Ultimately your chicken and your chicken keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the far better for it.for sale chick
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