Baby Chickens for Sale in Gifford, Illinois
Baby Chickens for Sale in Gifford, Illinois
Build Your Own Chicken Coop – A story of chickens
So WAY back in March…Josh and I had a talk with the boys and we decided as a family that we would get some chickens. We were all pretty excited about this new adventure and couldn’t wait to get started! At the beginning of April we headed over to to figure out what we would need and how many chickens we wanted. They had a very helpful employee who told us everything we would need to know about taking care of our chickens. Also, lucky for us we had Housewife Gena available to answer any questions we might have!
The boys were excited to help pick out the chickens and were even more excited when the IFA staff told us the chicks needed to be held lots and lots so they would be used to the kids. 🙂� After about an hour there we came home with…
Six adorable chicks! Because we are a family of five we decided to get two chickens that are said to lay daily and four chickens that lay 3-4 times a week. We figured that would be plenty of eggs for us!
A couple weeks later, IFA did an Easter Egg Hunt. Now being a farm supply store, they don’t give away just candy in their eggs, they also give away…you guessed it CHICKENS! (And bunnies and ducks and turkeys) Housewife Jenn’s kids ended up with four leghorn chicks! Another family in our ward decided they didn’t need any extra chickens and gave Jenn’s family another two chicks! Since we were already building a coop for our chicks, we offered to let Jenn’s family’s chicks live with ours.
So here are the little chicks! Happy under their heat lamp and eating away! 🙂�
While our chicks were perfectly happy in the garage, in their tote…it quickly got too small for 12 chicks. As soon as they were ready, we transferred them to the backyard to a makeshift coop. I did not take a picture of the makeshift coop because…well it was pretty sad. It served it’s purpose and the chickens loved it but it was not anything you’d want to show off! With that in mind, Josh began the process of building a coop for our chickens. We saw a coop at IFA that we thought looked great! However, it was $600.00. As much as we liked our chickens…we didn’t $600.00 like them!
So Josh took a few measurements and we sketched out what we wanted for our chickens, using the IFA coop as inspiration. We took a trip to Lowe’s to price out our materials. We were lucky enough that we had left over wood, Jenn’s family had left over wood and a family a few houses down from us reroofed their house and donated their left over roofing supplies to us! It was our goal to use as many materials as we already had and keep the cost as low as possible!
Let me say now…Josh and I have never “built” anything. Really. This was quite an adventure for us (mostly Josh since he did almost all of the work) and I’m so happy with how it all turned out!
He started with the base for the coop itself. We wanted to make sure that there was enough clearance for the chickens to use under the coop as part of the chicken run.
He used four 3″ screws in each post to make sure it was nice and sturdy.
Wall framing almost done!
Look what happens when you start building a coop…your chickens start laying eggs! 🙂� (So far Jenn’s chickens are the only ones laying. Lucky for us, our chickens are DUAL chickens so if they don’t get to laying…they going to get to frying!)
The framing completed from two angles.
Up go the walls!
Putting in the hinged door for collecting eggs.
Getting the eggs out will be a breeze! 🙂�
A few angles of the walls all up and the plywood for the roof up. As you can see, our coop has skylights…that’s how we roll.
First coat of paint and the tar paper on the roof. You may wonder why we chose this color for the coop. Well to be completely honest, we picked colors we wanted to paint our house and figured the coop would be the perfect guinea pig to see if we like the colors! 🙂� The coop is Valspar’s Royal Gray. (I know, it looks blue to me too!)
For the door we chose Valspar’s Kettle Black. It has blue undertones so it goes really well with the Royal Gray.
The roof complete with the windows in. I’ve seen lots of super cute coops with real glass windows. It was less expensive ($1.29 a pane) to just use plexiglass. And it worked perfectly!
The coop with the final coat of paint, windows/hardware on and trim put up.
The door on the coop. We chose to put a large door on the side to make it easier to clean out for us. And I have to say that it makes it look way cuter! 🙂�
The Roosting bar inside the coop.
Trim all painted and mesh put around the bottom of the coop.
The nesting boxes. The only thing I didn’t get a picture of was the peel and stick tiles that we put on the bottom of the coop. They were only $0.02 a tile! I think we ended up using about 14 tiles.
The finished product with the happy chickens inside!
Another angle. After the coop itself was completed. Josh used 2 x 2’s and 2 x 3’s to build the frame for the yard and another, outdoor roosting bar. We also added in the ramp for the chickens to get into the coop. I’m super proud of Josh for all of his hard work and I’m really excited for how amazing it turned out!! Our total cost for the entire coop…every last nail, hinge, can of paint, everything was about $290.00. And the best part is the chicken coop and run are significantly bigger than the one at IFA. 🙂� So HUGE round of applause for Josh and the coop!
UPDATE: Hello dear readers!!! This has been a long time coming, but this post is going to get a HUGE revamp! With having babies and life getting in the way, I’ve neglected this post and getting out the information that I should. I am going to be working on updating this post with as much information on the building and materials as I can. We didn’t keep super great track of all the materials we used, but I will do the best I can to give you as much info as possible! Thank you all again for loving this project!
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Baby Chickens Eggs in Gifford, Illinois
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Gifford Illinois, including Sussex Chickens, Welsummer Chickens, Turken Chickens and more. Be sure to check out the Bargain Specials, as you can combine different egg layers in smaller amounts and buy as an assortment. Gifford Illinois also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in Gifford Illinois, bantams for sale, ducks for sale, geese for sale, turkeys for sale, guinea for sale, peafowl for sale, pheasant for sale, chukar partridge for sale, bobwhite for sale, many different breeds of baby chicks for sale in Gifford IL.Baby Chickens Diet in Gifford, Illinois
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Gifford Illinois catalog is a yearly traditions in many houses. My kids and I eagerly await the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. We love looking at all the cool and different chicken breeds available. Catalogs are free so head on over to their site and request one if you are interested.Typically hatcheries online offer both standard breeds
and bantams. Bantams are fun hardy little chickens, they lay tiny eggs
that kids especially love collecting. Bantams typically weigh less than 2
pounds when full grown. Just like ordering anything online there are pros
and cons to ordering baby chicks online. Pros of buying baby chicks in
Gifford Illinois * Big Selection - If you are wanting a large
variety of different chicken breeds and egg colors, you will find the best
selection at an online hatchery. * Both Bantams and full sized chickens
available * You get to choose what sex you want. If you want a mixture of
both male and female then choosing a "straight run" will save you money
and you will get a mixture of male and female chicks. You can also choose
all males or all females too. * Weekly specials. Hatcheries have sales on
chicks, you are likely to get a good deal if you are flexible with the
breeds you are wanting. Cons of buying baby chicks in Gifford
Illinois * Order early to get the best selection. Certain breeds sell
out fast, sometimes as early as 6 months in advance of shipping! If you
are wanting a certain breed it's best to order your chicks in the fall
before their orders sell out.
Baby Chickens For Sale Online in Gifford, Illinois
Quantity - you must order a certain number of chicks. Typically hatcheries will require you buy a minimum of 25 chicks at a time. The number is necessary for the chicks survival during shipping. All 25 chicks are put in one small box without heat. They are crowded in the box and produce enough body heat to arrive in good shape. * The wait - If you choose to buy chicks from a feed store you will have them the same day but if you choose to go with a hatchery you have to wait until they are ready to ship and then wait for the chicks to arrive. Ordering baby chicks online in Gifford Illinois is easy and has always been a very pleasant experience of me. It can be a little frustrating waiting for the chicks but it's so worth the wait. When the post office calls and you hear all those little "cheeps" or "chirps" in the background you'll know the wait was worth it! How to Care for your new baby chickens in Gifford, Illinois Baby chicks are quite charming as well as hard to withstand, however it's best to prepare for their arrival before you obtain them. Prepare first by compiling not just the appropriate products, however also the appropriate expertise to look after them. Raising baby chicks is relatively straightforward, you just need to supply them with the following: A tidy and cozy habitat A lot of food and also water Attention and also love Environment Your environment could be an easy box, fish tank, feline provider, or guinea pig cage. Line it with old towels as well as blankets (with no loosened strings!) to start, and after a few weeks use straw over paper. Note: Avoid utilizing just newspaper or other sandal surface areas-- or your chicks legs could grow malformed. You likewise require something to provide food and also water in, such as a chicken feeder and also water meal from the feed shop, or a pickle container lid for food as well as an animal bird water dispenser from an animal shop. Additionally, as the chicks get older you can introduce a perch into the habitat to obtain them educated on setting down. Heat To keep your chicks heat you should give them with a heat source. This can be as easy as a 100 watt light bulb in a reflective clamp style light from an equipment store, or an infrared reptile warmth light bulb additionally work extremely well (my suggestion). Chicks need this warmth 24/7 up until their downy fluff is replaced with feathers (which could use up to two months). The recently hatched require a temperature between 90 and 100 degrees, and each week this can be minimized by about 5 degrees approximately. The heat source ought to get on merely one side of the cage to allow chicks a range of temperature levels. The chicks are your finest thermometer- if they are hiding in the other corner of your heat light, you have to decrease the temperature level. If they are surrounding each various other under the heat (not simply snuggling), you need to include some warmth. Housekeeping Sanitation is essential and also it maintains your chicks healthy and balanced. Make certain to change the bedding commonly as well as constantly offer tidy food and also water Food and water. Chicks expand quite quickly which requires lots of tidy food and also water. Offer sufficient at all times as well as inspect frequently to stop thirsty as well as hungry chicks. Chick food is different than grown-up chicken food, as well as it is available in both medicated and also non-medicated selections. Feed chick food for the initial two months, after that switch to a raiser food (~ 17 % healthy protein) for one more 2 months, then to a somewhat reduced healthy protein feed or a level feed (if you have levels). Dirt Some chicks like to get a head start on taking dirt bathrooms, while others will not use up that task until they are older. If you have the room in your chick unit, introduce a tray of sand or dust for them to wash in. Focus as well as love There are a couple of advantages to spending quality time with your chicks. Firstly, they will certainly more than likely bond with you and not flee as adults. Second, if you analyze your chicks daily as well as watch their habits, you could catch disease or other problems previously. Watch out for hissing, hopping, or various other harmful signs. Make certain to likewise check out their poop, as looseness of the bowels could cause matted plumes and also stopped up cloaca. Last but not least, it is necessary to watch out for social concerns, such as the littlest chick getting picked on. Vacant nest syndrome So your chicks are now fully feathered as well as its time for them to leave the safety of your home as well as relocate outside right into a cage. Look into our part on chicken coops to read more concerning cages and also proper coop habitats.Baby Chicks In A Box Baby Chickens Diet
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