Chicken Coops for Sale in Longview, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Longview, Illinois
building our homestead | the chicken coop.
When Justin and I had been , he took me to his family’s farm for Thanksgiving. I was already nervous as it was – he was a new boyfriend and I was meeting his family – but by the end of the weekend they’d coerced convinced me to drive a skid loader, fire off a few rounds at some coffee cans, and forage for my own breakfast in the chicken coop. When we came back the next spring, there were a handful of baby chicks fluttering around the yard and I thought they were so precious. Uncle Bill handed me one, nearly weightless in my palm, all its hollow bones twitching against my fingers. It made me nervous, how fragile it felt and how anxious it seemed to get back to its Mama Bird.
But the eggs? The eggs I loved. I loved the plastic Easter egg sitting inside the nesting box (to encourage the ladies to lay there); I loved the varying shades of brown, the speckled pattern and the occasional pastel green egg that appeared. They made the white grocery store eggs look so bland, so boring. And when we brought the eggs inside to fry up alongside our buttered toast, their yolks were electric orange. I’d never seen anything like it before (they grow pumpkins on the farm and feed the chickens with the broken pieces, thus the late-autumn yolks are especially colorful). I slid two over-easy’s onto my plate and split them open with the prong of my fork and watched the yolk puddle out to my toast. I think about that breakfast a lot, about the smell of the barn early in the morning; how Justin and I were living outside our comfort zones and learning to love each other; how he casually mentioned that, one day, we might have a farm.
We don’t have a full-blown farm, not by a long shot, but after trying to and finally accepting this is where we’ll stay, we decided to start building our backyard homestead. Justin bought the blueprints for a chicken coop and set to work in our garage over the winter. We poured the concrete footers together before Christmas, before the frost would come, and Justin etched our initials into the last one while it was still wet. He spent hours under the fluorescent lights of the garage bay, hammering and nailing and sometimes painting. And finally, after months of work, we hauled it outside with a trailer and some extra manpower.
Most of the books we read said chickens were low-maintenance, that they don’t need much besides a cardboard box and some fresh water. But my husband, God love him, is an overachiever. So our chickens will have the Ritz Carlton of chicken coops to call home. And this coming weekend, our chicks will arrive! We have nine in total – three each of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Red, and Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers). They’ll live in a brooder box in our garage for the first few weeks to stay toasty warm, and by the end of May or June we’ll move them out to the luxury hotel we call a chicken coop. It isn’t quite finished, we still need to add shingles and chicken wire all around, but I’m so proud of it. I’m proud of what we’re doing, how we live, how we eat, how we teach our kids about food and about life.
So cheers to the homestead! We’re finally doing it.
***
First few photos are iPhone.
Resources:
Chicken Coop Kits in Longview, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Longview 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 Longview Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Longview, Illinois With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally huge surge in the array of fowl paraphernalia on sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's also a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as numerous prospective fowl housing professionals peddle a range of accommodation declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate demands. Frequently the price looks appealing, your house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap as well as nasty coops swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've checked 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 nothing but a costly heap of firewood and also a tiny group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Build in Longview, Illinois
More often than not these mass produced models are constructed of rapid grown wood - come the first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not shut, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The very first warm day indicates the hardwood dries out and fractures, the felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their when appealing apartment yet since the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, as well as probably crawling with, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly match 4 huge hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A number of hinges and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large space as well as the pop hole doorway allows enough for the type you keep, then the primary needs of housing come down to 3 factors which will define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. The majority of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will also normally try to find the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they produce one of the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries might happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home 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 ahead. Ideally your home must have a the very least one nest box for each three birds as well as these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house should have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will accumulate every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Be aware, ventilation works on the concept of warm air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your house and also at the same degree, this is just what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still true, yet you ought to also think about the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens in your home is perhaps enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close take a look at some of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, proper air flow and also ample nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get just what you pay for". You could assume you've got hold of a bargain, however you and also your flock might rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house and also it will last for a couple of years, if not longer given the proper treatment. In the end your chicken and also your chicken keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the better for it.build build
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