Chicken Coops for Sale in Cave In Rock, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Cave In Rock, Illinois
Preparing Your Coop/Flock For Winter – Part 1: Roof Structure
Last week I posted a list of items that you may want to consider doing to make sure you and your flock are ready for the colder winter months. I’m going to try address one or two of these topics every Wednesday so that if you are going to work on them over the weekend you have time to plan.
Again I know it’s hard to even think of winter when the temperatures are in the 90’s in many parts of the country, but the cold weather will be on us before you know. Its much easier to take the time now to button up any issues, then trying to do it in the dead of winter. Many of you will not deal with snow and ice (lucky you!) but many of these topics effect all of us backyard chicken keepers and have a detrimental effect on the overall health of your coop…As I always say if what I post pertains to you and helps, great, if not just forget about it and move on…
Coop Roof Structure:
The roof of your coop is the first line of defense against the elements. A sound roof will not only prevent water penetration but will help in keeping your coop warm during the winter. As we all know heat rises (check our second floor of the house out in the summer!) and a solid roof can help trap some of this heat keeping the inside of the coop warmer. The important thing to remember is that you do not want to trap all of the heat by cutting off ventilation. Heat develops moisture and condensation so it’s important to have a balance. Ventilation is an important aspect of the coop, without it moisture builds, ammonia fumes become overpowering and your birds health will suffer. There is a huge difference between ventilation and a draft, we will be discussing “drafts” in a later post.
Having controllable ventilation at the peak of the roof structure will help to maintain a healthy coop. This can easily be accomplished with some screen covered holes on the side walls of the peak and using a piece of plywood to control how much of an opening you want. There are some much more elaborate systems out there but they all accomplish the same thing, controllable ventilation. If you don’t have ventilation at the peak you may want to consider it. There is a reason why so many homes have ventilation at the eves and peaks, it helps to control moisture in the home during the winter as well keeping the home cooler in the summer months.
Ensuring that your roof is leak free is also very important. That little leak you have been dealing with all summer may become a big issue during the winter when you get the “freeze/thaw effects”. During the day as snow and ice melt, water can leak into the the roof structure. At night this water freezes and expands resulting in a larger and larger leak as the days go by. There are many products out there that can help seal up these leaks but be careful some have toxic fumes that could be harmful to your flock. Sometimes just using a new shingle on asphalt roofs does the trick. Metal roofs typically leak at the seams or nail heads, a good quality sealer should handle these areas. Just remember most of the time the leak you see dripping on the underside of the roof came from a hole or crack above where you see the dripping. When water leaks in, gravity causes the water to run to the lowest point. It may take some investigation to find where the leak is actually coming from but a good starting point is to start above the spot you see the leak dripping.
If the wood on your coop roof is rotted it should be replaced. Rotted wood normally contains a large amount of moisture. The moisture in this wood adds moisture to the coop (remember, it’s a bad thing). “Freeze/Thaw” effects can take place on this rotted wood causing it to deteriorate even quicker. Snow loads can add significant weight to the top of the coop and a unstable structure runs the risk of collapse. I can only imagine how difficult it would be dealing with a roof collapse in the dead of winter! If the snow and ice get to heavy for the roof on your coop, you should remove it. When removing it be careful not to damage the roof shingles or other covering! Stand on a steady surface with both feet firmly planted on the ground or step when attempting to remove snow and ice.
A roof leak also adds unwanted moisture to you coop by letting water in and keeping the litter wet. The interior of a coop has enough moisture from bird droppings and the moisture a chicken itself gives off by breathing, you don’t need or want the added moisture from a leak. If the litter in the coop becomes wet from any source during the winter you should remove it and replace it with fresh as quickly as possible. Placing a bucket under the leak to catch the drip is not a good fix. When water drips into the bucket it can splash a fine mist a considerable distance. This mist keeps the litter wet and the air inside the coop too moist.
A well ventilated, leak free, structurally sound roof on your coop is a extremely important part in maintaining the overall health of your coop. This is not an area that you want to just “make do” and cut corners. There are many materials that you can use for a roof. Some, like scrap metal roofing or end cut pieces of tar paper and shingles can be found at a local building site (ask first, you don’t want the end up in jail!) or a recycling center. I would avoid using a tarp, although these are good in an emergency should you find a leak. And never use pressure treated wood which can give off toxic fumes in a enclosed area like a coop. If your roof membrane is water tight there is no need for pressure treated plywood or lumber as a deck surface.
By addressing the coops roof now you can prevent dealing with the effects of a wet environment in the dead cold of the winter months…Hope this helps….
FrankThe Chicken Fountain™
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Chicken Coop Plans Pdf in Cave In Rock, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Cave In Rock Illinois" 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 Cave In Rock Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Cave In Rock, Illinois With the significant boost in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally huge rise in the array of chicken materiel on sale. Fowl real estate is a case in factor. It's also a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective chicken real estate professionals pitch a range of holiday accommodation asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken housing demands. Commonly the rate looks appealing, your house looks attractive, hell even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of affordable and also unpleasant cages swamping the market. I know this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was nothing but a pricey stack of firewood and also a tiny group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop On Trailer in Cave In Rock, Illinois
Most of the time these standardized designs are created of fast grown up wood - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking citizens. The first warm day suggests the wood dries out as well as splits, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their when appealing property yet since the hovel is currently a place for, and also probably crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would match 4 big hens when that stocking density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you left with? A few joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a big room and also the pop opening door is big enough for the breed you maintain, then the main requirements of housing come down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box entrance as chickens will likewise naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries can occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home must have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and also these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your home should have appropriate ventilation: without it then condensation will develop every evening, also in the coldest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works on the principle of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the same level, this is what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still real, however you must also consider the run size. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a totally free variety bird is (and also allow's encounter it, among the motivations for keeping some hens in your home is perhaps boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close check out some of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, right ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may think you've got hold of a bargain, however you and your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the proper treatment. In the long run your poultry as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will be considerably the much better for it.chicken plans
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