Chicken Coops for Sale in Okawville, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Okawville, Illinois
My DIY Chicken Coop and Run
One of the things I’ve missed since moving north from our country home in Texas 13 years ago has been having chickens, and our own fresh eggs. Having a new grandbaby made my chicken longing all the more compelling–I might be able to accept eating store-bought eggs for myself, but my granddaughter must have only the best and most nutritious!
Being a busy grad student and nurse meant I thought I didn’t have time for DIY projects, so my original intent was to purchase a pre-made coop and chicken run. To my amazement, I found a chicken tractor on Amazon.com–with FREE super saver shipping! I happily placed my order.
A week later, Amazon informed me my order had been canceled due to unavailability. Frustration set in. I searched in vain for another source, but couldn’t find anything I liked as much that was within my price range. It seemed that building my own was my only option, but I didn’t see how I possibly could. For one thing, we don’t have much in the way of woodworking tools. Also, finals week was fast approaching, and “spare” time was at a premium. I needed to come up with something I could do quickly and easily, without too many fancy tools. Here’s what I came up with:
I bought a Rubbermaid storage shed at Home Depot.
Inside, I added a roost and a rack to hold the “nestbuckets” made from Home Depot buckets. I also made a screened wall on one side, so that one door can be left open for ventilation during nice weather.
To secure the wooden fixtures, I drilled holes through the walls of the coop and screwed wood screws through from the outside into the wood pieces. Where possible, I took advantage of the shapes and depressions of the plastic to add additional support. The screen wall is fastened to the wall of the coop and also to the roosts. The nestbuckets are not permanently fastened to the rack they sit on — I use a bungee cord to hold them securely in place.
In the back of the coop, beneath the nestbuckets, I cut an opening for the chickens to use for going in and out. I made a mistake and made it flush with the floor, before realizing that there should be a “lip” to hold the bedding in, so I added a scrap piece of lumber across the bottom for that purpose. I used strips of trim to “frame” the opening and hide the hollow walls of the Rubbermaid container.
Since there’s no way to keep the right-hand door closed when the left-hand one is open, I added gate latches on the inside to fasten it to the screen door. I can easily reach the lower one by reaching down through the top of the coop, but for people whose arms aren’t as long as mine, a pull string could be rigged for that purpose.
The last step was to add four eye bolts to the outside of the coop, to secure it to the run (I’m using bungee cords for this purpose), and to add strips of 2×2″ lumber to use as handles, since the smooth plastic makes it hard to get a grip on it for transporting the coop.
The run is made from two cattle panels with 2×4″ openings, using pig rings to secure the pieces together. The sides and top are each a half panel. The remaining piece was cut into 3 parts. Two of them form the end of the run farthest from the coop. The bottom half is fastened permanently in place, and the top half is fastened only at the top, forming a hinge that allows it to be swung up onto the top of the run for access to the inside. Again, I used a bungee cord to fasten the access panel in place when it is closed. I’m tall enough to easily step over the lower piece, but someone without my height advantage might need to modify the design to work for them. The remaining thin piece of cattle panel was fastened vertically to one side of the end of the run next to the coop. It adds some structural stability as well as allowing for the fact that the coop is not quite as wide as the run. A 2-foot wide strip of hardware cloth with 1/2″ openings was fastened all the way around the lower portion of the run, to keep raccoons from reaching through to grab the chickens.
Finally, I fastened a tarp over the run at one end to protect the feed from rain. Here’s the finished product, complete with chickens:
Chicken Coop Kit For 6 Chickens in Okawville, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Okawville 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 Okawville Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Okawville, Illinois With the massive increase in chicken maintaining there has actually been a similarly big surge in the variety of poultry stuff for sale. Poultry housing is an instance in point. It's also a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different would-be fowl real estate experts market a selection of lodging asserting to be the excellent solution to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the cost looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Surely they recognize a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical and unpleasant cages swamping the market. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was nothing but an expensive pile of fire wood and also a little flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop in Okawville, Illinois
More often than not these mass produced models are built of quick grown up hardwood - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The very first warm day suggests the lumber dries out as well as splits, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their when appealing building yet since the hovel is now a place for, as well as probably abounding, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly match four large hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you left with? A few joints as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a big room and also the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the type you keep, then the major requirements of housing boil down to 3 points which will specify the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Most breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they ought to 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. Ideally the house should have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of the house. The house needs to have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, also in the coldest of climate. Understand, ventilation works on the principle of cozy air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of your home and also at the exact same level, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still real, yet you need to also think about the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful equipping density for a cost-free array bird is (and also let's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is possibly boosted or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close check out a few of the bargain residences - it could well be the house has the best perches, appropriate ventilation and also ample nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You may think you've grabbed a bargain, however you as well as your group could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer given the proper treatment. In the long run your fowl and your poultry keeping experience will certainly be considerably the far better for it.chickens for sale
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Lawrenceville, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Herod, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Calhoun, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Crystal Lake, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Andalusia, Illinois