Chicken Coops for Sale in Hinckley, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Hinckley, Illinois
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 .
Related posts on RYGblog
Chicken Coop Building Plans in Hinckley, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Hinckley 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 Hinckley Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Hinckley, Illinois With the big rise in chicken maintaining there has been a just as huge surge in the array of poultry stuff on sale. Poultry housing is a proceedings in point. It's also a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various prospective poultry real estate specialists market an array of lodging asserting to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing demands. Usually the cost looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several low-cost and nasty cages swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The result was just a pricey pile of firewood and a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Facts in Hinckley, Illinois
More often than not these standardized versions are built of rapid grown up hardwood - come the first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking citizens. The first warm and comfortable day means the hardwood dries out as well as cracks, the really felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their once attractive residential property however since the hovel is now a place for, and most likely abounding, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit four large chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big space as well as the pop opening door allows sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the primary needs of real estate boil down to three factors which will certainly define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Most types of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is clearly much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your house they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably the house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds as well as these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your home. Your home ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will accumulate every evening, also in the chilliest of weather. Know, air flow deals with the principle of warm air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of holes on contrary walls of your home and at the same degree, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached then the factors above are still true, however you ought to additionally think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a free variety bird is (and let's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens in your home is possibly improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, right air flow and sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you get just what you pay for". You may assume you've grabbed a deal, yet you and your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer given the proper treatment. In the long run your poultry as well as your poultry maintaining encounter will certainly be much the much better for it.coops plans
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Dewey, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Elkville, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Calumet City, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Dolton, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Blue Mound, Illinois