Chicken Coops for Sale in New Athens, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in New Athens, Illinois
How to build a Chicken Coop for under $50
How to build a Chicken Coop for under $50
Why Raise Chickens?
Really, the question you should ask is “Why not raise chickens?” Raising chickens can be a really rewarding experience. These amazing animals eat a small amount of feed a day, and yet produce one egg about every day of the year. (Out of 365 days a year, they lay about 335 eggs.) They take a couple days off here and there, but for the most part they are great layers. Having complete control over the food you feed your family is also really rewarding. Knowing our chickens eat non-GMO, Organic feed, and are allowed to free-range on our acre yard somehow just makes the eggs taste better. There are many benefits to free-ranging your chickens. First of all, they don’t develop diseases because they are out in the fresh air and not living in their poop. Second, they eat a LOT more bugs and let me tell you, you WANT your chickens to eat bugs. Not only does it help keep your bug(& scorpion) population down, it also increases the amount of Omega-3’s per egg. There are just some things that nature does better! The added bonus of letting your chickens eat bugs is that they will eat less of your store-bought feed which helps bring down your overall cost.
FYI, chickens that are locked up in small spaces are SUPER mean to each other. Like cannibal mean. By cannibal, I mean they will literally eat each other. Seriously. They will gang up on the weakest and peck at it incessantly until it dies and then eat it. It’s all Mean Girls up in there, I’m telling you. So, definitely free-range, okay?
How Much does it Cost to keep Chickens
If you buy “regular” chicken feed, it will only cost you about $11.00 for a 50 lb. bag. Pretty good deal, huh? Well, not really. “Regular” feed is chock full of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) which are KNOWN for making chickens sick. Genetically modified organisms are also called Roundup Ready. GMO’s require massive amounts of pesticides, herbicides & fungicides. Yum. “Regular” feed is also usually pre-packaged with antibiotics. Wasn’t that nice of the feed company? Gosh, they are so nice to give our chickens anti-biotics after making them sick with GMOs. So thoughtful. When all’s said and done and your chickens stop going diarrhea, it will only cost you 82 cents a dozen. Organic, Non-GMO feed is about $24.00 for a 50 lb. bag but the benefits are amazing. Our feed is full of clean grains, as they should be, with no pesticides in them or on them. We also supplement their diet with dinner table scraps. It costs us about $1.75 a dozen. At the store, you can expect to pay $5.99 a dozen for ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE eggs. A Plan is Hatched (I’m freakin’ hilarious) The chicken coop I’m about to show you is one for FREE-RANGE chickens. This means your chickens should only be in the coop to eat feed, lay eggs, and roost/sleep at night. For the rest of the day they should be allowed in a yard so they can stay nice and healthy. I can’t take full credit for this idea. Okay, I can’t take ANY credit for this idea. Kevin and I were talking about how to get rid of our old crib. We couldn’t really give it away to Goodwill because it has that old school drop side that has totally been recalled now for safety issues. Then Kevin mentioned on how that sliding door would come in handy for a chicken coop. YES! Totally! I’ve been wanting to build a new chicken coop, and this thing was pretty much built for me! Well, I took Kevin’s idea and ran with it. I first drew a picture of how I wanted it to look. Yes, I’m a very visual person. (Lydia said it was the best drawing of a crib she’s EVER seen, so that means it’s pretty dang good.) The crib. Ah, crib you’ve served us well. You’ve kept our sweet little babes safe and sound as they have sweetly slumbered. Well, except for that one time when the drop side malfunctioned and Ethan tumbled out when he was 8 mo. old. But let’s forget about that one issue. You have been a great crib and we’re thankful for all your service. Aaannd now you will be a pooping ground for our chickens, mmkay? Ta-da! Here’s the coop all finished! It was SUPER easy. We lined two sides with chicken wire, two sides with wains coating, slapped a roof on that mutha’ and called it a day. Okay, okay. It took a little longer than that. I had to paint it, which actually takes way more spray paint than you’d think. I was actually embarrassed at how many times I kept underestimating the amount of spray paint I needed. It was becoming a problem, how bad I was at estimating my spray paint needs. I kept going back to the store and I totally felt like the checkout lady was thinking, “Really? MORE spray paint?” And I, feeling stupid for being the worst spray paint estimator ever, imagined yelling, “Yes, it’s for my chickens, OKAY?!!” The drop side comes down just enough to gather eggs and fill the feeder. I totally cut these pieces myself. I also cut the table I was using but we won’t dwell on that. Sorry Kevin! You’re still “not mad”, right??? A chicken coops not a chicken coop ’till you put an actual picture of a chicken on it, right? I thought so. It has a simple roof made of wains coating and trim. Underneath is a simple frame of 1x2s. Did I mention it was simple? Super cute, right? And cheap, which makes the Mr. Husband happy.
P.S. My friend Claire from wrote an excellent guide on (and raising chickens in the winter in general). I highly recommend it!
Do you own chickens? Have you ever thought of raising chickens? You should! And you should totally use your old crib because, well, it’s super cheap and super cool.
Chicken Coop Reviews in New Athens, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in New Athens 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 New Athens Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in New Athens, Illinois With the huge increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally big increase in the array of fowl materiel on sale. Chicken real estate is a situation in point. It's also a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as various prospective poultry housing professionals pitch a selection of cottage declaring to be the ideal option to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the cost looks eye-catching, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks eye-catching, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Undoubtedly they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable as well as nasty coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container showed up. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood as well as a small flock of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Setup in New Athens, Illinois
Generally these mass produced versions are constructed of quick grown wood - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking occupants. The initial warm day implies the hardwood dries out and splits, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their once desirable property but considering that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, as well as possibly crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit four huge hens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A few hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big space as well as the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the primary demands of real estate boil down to three points which will define the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly also normally look for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) causing stained eggs the following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in the house they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house should have a the very least one nest box for each three birds as well as these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your house. Your home needs to have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly build up every evening, also in the chilliest of weather. Know, ventilation works on the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of your house and at the exact same level, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the factors above are still true, yet you should also consider the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (and also allow's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in the house is potentially enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the best perches, appropriate ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You may think you've got hold of a deal, but you and your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and it will certainly last for a few years, otherwise longer provided the right treatment. Eventually your chicken and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be a lot the better for it.build coop
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