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Chicken Coops for Sale in Edwardsville, Illinois

Chicken Coops for Sale in Edwardsville, Illinois

Chickens in the City – Practical Advice on Managing an Urban Coop and the Neighbors

August 13, 2012 |

Chickens pecking at your toes? Fresh eggs daily? Sounds like rural living. With the rise of the urban locavore movement, though, poultry are becoming commonplace in cities all over the country.

When Khrysti Smyth first started keeping chickens in her urban yard in Somerville Massachusetts, it was not only for the fresh eggs, but to reconnect with nature.

“I have been a green living practitioner and advocate for my entire life,” she said, but after moving to Somerville and selling her car she found herself “city-locked”.  She started to feel detached from nature and wanted to bring it back into her life.

For her, chicken keeping quickly became a natural antidote to city living.

As someone starting out with chickens in an urban environment, there were many practical questions to answer: How much would it cost? What would chickens do to the lawn? How would the neighbors react? Having successfully negotiated these muddy waters herself, Smyth has extended her love of the birds into a small business, helping other urbanites bring chickens into their homes. Now, she has some tips for you.

Costs and Coops: the practical side to chicken keeping

The greatest cost associated with chickens is the initial set up, including the coop. The trade off, Smyth says, is between time and money. For example, she built her chicken coop entirely from Craigslist materials, costing her less than $500, but also 3-4 months of her time. Chickens themselves range in price, too. Chicks can cost between $3-10, while laying-aged hens can be as much as $75.

Smyth sells a coop and bird set up, complete with installation, for $1,000-$1,500. As it can take up to a year before chicks start laying, buying a complete set-up means that her customers can have a chicken coop with laying birds within a few days rather than months or even years.

Khrysti Smyth and Lucy. Photo: Khrysti Smyth

Typically, feed is the only reoccurring cost chicken owners have after the initial set up. In the summer, Smyth reports that her 14 chickens will go through a 50-pound bag of chicken feed (costing under $20) in about one and a half months. In the winter, with fewer alternative food options, the chickens go through the feed a little faster.

“The more you have them free-ranging and the more fruits and veggies you feed them, the less chicken food they eat,” Smyth said.

For all that work, Smyth reports that she can get between 4-5 eggs per bird per week, with ornamental chickens laying slightly less than that.

Grit and Grass: What are chickens going to do to the yard?

Though chickens are appreciated for their eggs, new owners and their neighbors are often concerned about the problems poultry can bring, such as attracting pest animals and destroying lawns.

Smyth says that the potential for increased urban pests is “not entirely a misconception, but it has been amplified more than is realistic.”

“As long as you manage it in such a way that does not make [the food] easily accessible, even if [pests] show up once, they are not going to stick around because there is something easier to get down the block.”

She encourages chicken owners to keep all their food in pest-proof containers, design their coops to keep critters out, and ensure that the chicken coop won’t provide the easiest meal on the block. In urban environments, most pests have better options.

But what about your lawn or garden?

“Anything green or leafy that you might eat, [the chickens] definitely want to eat,” Smyth reports. She recommends poultry netting to keep chickens away from gardens and moving the enclosure daily to ensure that they don’t do too much damage to any one area.

She notes that many farmers will use chickens to till and fertilize a garden after it’s been harvested. “It’s a great way to put your animals to work in your garden area.”

The Other Pest: how to manage your neighbors

Surprisingly, keeping birds out of gardens and away from opportunist rodents can be chickenfeed compared to the challenges of dealing with the human neighbors in an urban environment.

Smyth has had a lot of success bringing chickens to her neighborhood in Somerville, displaying them in classrooms and even having them meet the mayor. Unfortunately, not all urban poultry owners are as lucky.

Blake Brasher was living in the adjacent city of Cambridge, when he and his housemates decided to purchase a few chickens and ducks.

“We had two chickens and three ducks. Each duck had its own personality and would run out to greet us when we went into the yard,” Brasher says. “We considered them pets with benefits; the benefits being the eggs.”

He even noticed a benefit to his yard. “The birds were wonderful at keeping the rats at bay and at eating slugs, which are a big garden pest in New England. Many of our garden plants thrived that year. It was a pleasure to hang out with the birds, and a number of our friends and neighbors would come over to see them regularly.”

It wasn’t long though before one neighbor started to complain to the city. There was concern about rats, noises, housing values and even bird flu.

At the time, the city of Cambridge did not have any laws or zoning ordinances related to managing urban poultry. And as a result, the city was forced to interpret existing zoning ordinances. The interpretation for Brasher and his housemates was not good, ultimately requiring them to get rid of their birds.

“It was not a happy ending,” Brasher said. The birds were sent off to a local learning farm, where the chickens died within a few weeks from disease and the ducks were eaten by predators.

According to the city of Cambridge, poultry keeping is not permitted at this time, leaving other chicken owners in the city at the mercy of neighbors and city zoning boards.

“I guess the key would be to have good relations with your neighbors,” Brasher says. “We had discussed within the house whether or not we should try to ask for permission from our neighbors before getting the birds, but we felt like our relationship was such that she would say no to anything we asked.”

Smyth says that it’s common for people to not want to deal with neighbors. “The risk is that you are going to have one neighbor who is absolutely opposed to it. If you open that flood gate of communication, you are going to hear all about why this is a terrible idea.”

She adds that getting as many people on your side ahead of time is key. “I was proactive with my neighbors,” Smyth said. She brought them a plan, which detailed the number of chickens and the layout of their coop, inviting them to respond. She also hyped up the fact that there would be eggs, “which is really good for placating neighbors.”

Since first getting her chickens, Smyth has helped the city of Somerville change their ordinances to allow up to 6 hens and disallow roosters, which can be a nuisance to neighbors.

Keeping a tidy coop, using her birds for outreach and including her neighbors in her planning has allowed Smyth to safely keep chickens in her urban yard for several years now. She sees chicken-keeping as a neighborhood activity, and her goal is to be able to share a little piece of nature with other city dwellers.

“Having a garden and giving produce to your neighbors is one thing,” Smyth said. “Having chickens and having everybody want to come over to meet them and show their kids really helps develop the community.”

Chicken coops for sale in Edwardsville Illinois can be found in agricultural newspapers and community newspapers. The coops are designed for housing for chickens in a safe and secure environment. They generally consist of a small building or large box that is then sectioned off to smaller boxes where the chickens go to roost (or sleep). Chicken coops are a must for raising chickens. Edwardsville Illinois chicken coops are commonly constructed from wood products. They are not very stable buildings and provide only minimal protection from the elements. Now chicken houses used for large production facilities are a entirely different structure, they are huge and can hold up to 10000 chickens. The coops are typically used for backyard operations, or small family farms. They vary in size depending on the number of residents they house. chicken-coops-in-Edwardsville-ILFinding chicken coops for sale in Edwardsville Illinois is probably not one of the easiest of items to find. There are manufacturers of chicken houses and coops that sell them out right and Edwardsville Illinois farm supply stores that they can also be purchased through, but generally speaking it will take some effort to find a chicken coop for sale in Edwardsville Illinois, especially if your location is not a typically rural location. In rural locations that are much more abundant and easily had. Chicken Coops for sale in Edwardsville IL

Chicken Coop For Sale Near Me in Edwardsville, Illinois

A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Edwardsville 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 Edwardsville Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Edwardsville, Illinois With the substantial boost in chicken maintaining there has been an equally huge rise in the variety of fowl paraphernalia for sale. Chicken housing is a situation in point. It's additionally a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various prospective chicken real estate specialists market a selection of accommodation declaring to be the suitable solution to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the cost looks eye-catching, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they recognize a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable and unpleasant cages swamping the market. I understand this as I've examined a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was just an expensive stack of fire wood and also a tiny group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams. Chickens for sale in Edwardsville IL

Chicken Coop And Run Plans in Edwardsville, Illinois

Typically these standardized designs are constructed of rapid grown up lumber - come the first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking citizens. The first cozy day means the hardwood dries out as well as splits, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their when desirable commercial property yet considering that the hovel is now a haven for, and also most likely crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would match 4 huge chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large room and also the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the main demands of real estate come down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Most breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally normally try to find the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They should not however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house should have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every evening, even in the chilliest of weather. Realize, air flow works on the principle of cozy air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on other walls of your house as well as at the same level, this is exactly what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still true, however you should additionally take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking thickness for a complimentary array bird is (and let's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some chickens in the house is potentially improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m squared. Take a close look at several of the bargain houses - it could well be your house has the right perches, proper ventilation as well as ample nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may believe you've got hold of a deal, however you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and also it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the right therapy. In the end your fowl and your chicken keeping experience will be a lot the better for it.
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