Chicken Coops for Sale in Winchester, Illinois
Chicken Coops for Sale in Winchester, Illinois
Preparing Your Coop/Flock For Winter – Part 1: Roof Structure
Last week I posted a list of items that you may want to consider doing to make sure you and your flock are ready for the colder winter months. I’m going to try address one or two of these topics every Wednesday so that if you are going to work on them over the weekend you have time to plan.
Again I know it’s hard to even think of winter when the temperatures are in the 90’s in many parts of the country, but the cold weather will be on us before you know. Its much easier to take the time now to button up any issues, then trying to do it in the dead of winter. Many of you will not deal with snow and ice (lucky you!) but many of these topics effect all of us backyard chicken keepers and have a detrimental effect on the overall health of your coop…As I always say if what I post pertains to you and helps, great, if not just forget about it and move on…
Coop Roof Structure:
The roof of your coop is the first line of defense against the elements. A sound roof will not only prevent water penetration but will help in keeping your coop warm during the winter. As we all know heat rises (check our second floor of the house out in the summer!) and a solid roof can help trap some of this heat keeping the inside of the coop warmer. The important thing to remember is that you do not want to trap all of the heat by cutting off ventilation. Heat develops moisture and condensation so it’s important to have a balance. Ventilation is an important aspect of the coop, without it moisture builds, ammonia fumes become overpowering and your birds health will suffer. There is a huge difference between ventilation and a draft, we will be discussing “drafts” in a later post.
Having controllable ventilation at the peak of the roof structure will help to maintain a healthy coop. This can easily be accomplished with some screen covered holes on the side walls of the peak and using a piece of plywood to control how much of an opening you want. There are some much more elaborate systems out there but they all accomplish the same thing, controllable ventilation. If you don’t have ventilation at the peak you may want to consider it. There is a reason why so many homes have ventilation at the eves and peaks, it helps to control moisture in the home during the winter as well keeping the home cooler in the summer months.
Ensuring that your roof is leak free is also very important. That little leak you have been dealing with all summer may become a big issue during the winter when you get the “freeze/thaw effects”. During the day as snow and ice melt, water can leak into the the roof structure. At night this water freezes and expands resulting in a larger and larger leak as the days go by. There are many products out there that can help seal up these leaks but be careful some have toxic fumes that could be harmful to your flock. Sometimes just using a new shingle on asphalt roofs does the trick. Metal roofs typically leak at the seams or nail heads, a good quality sealer should handle these areas. Just remember most of the time the leak you see dripping on the underside of the roof came from a hole or crack above where you see the dripping. When water leaks in, gravity causes the water to run to the lowest point. It may take some investigation to find where the leak is actually coming from but a good starting point is to start above the spot you see the leak dripping.
If the wood on your coop roof is rotted it should be replaced. Rotted wood normally contains a large amount of moisture. The moisture in this wood adds moisture to the coop (remember, it’s a bad thing). “Freeze/Thaw” effects can take place on this rotted wood causing it to deteriorate even quicker. Snow loads can add significant weight to the top of the coop and a unstable structure runs the risk of collapse. I can only imagine how difficult it would be dealing with a roof collapse in the dead of winter! If the snow and ice get to heavy for the roof on your coop, you should remove it. When removing it be careful not to damage the roof shingles or other covering! Stand on a steady surface with both feet firmly planted on the ground or step when attempting to remove snow and ice.
A roof leak also adds unwanted moisture to you coop by letting water in and keeping the litter wet. The interior of a coop has enough moisture from bird droppings and the moisture a chicken itself gives off by breathing, you don’t need or want the added moisture from a leak. If the litter in the coop becomes wet from any source during the winter you should remove it and replace it with fresh as quickly as possible. Placing a bucket under the leak to catch the drip is not a good fix. When water drips into the bucket it can splash a fine mist a considerable distance. This mist keeps the litter wet and the air inside the coop too moist.
A well ventilated, leak free, structurally sound roof on your coop is a extremely important part in maintaining the overall health of your coop. This is not an area that you want to just “make do” and cut corners. There are many materials that you can use for a roof. Some, like scrap metal roofing or end cut pieces of tar paper and shingles can be found at a local building site (ask first, you don’t want the end up in jail!) or a recycling center. I would avoid using a tarp, although these are good in an emergency should you find a leak. And never use pressure treated wood which can give off toxic fumes in a enclosed area like a coop. If your roof membrane is water tight there is no need for pressure treated plywood or lumber as a deck surface.
By addressing the coops roof now you can prevent dealing with the effects of a wet environment in the dead cold of the winter months…Hope this helps….
FrankThe Chicken Fountain™
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Chicken Coop House Plans in Winchester, Illinois
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Winchester 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 Winchester Illinois chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Winchester, Illinois With the massive increase in chicken keeping there has actually been a just as large surge in the variety of fowl paraphernalia on sale. Poultry real estate is a situation in factor. It's likewise a traditional example of the great old bandwagon being got on as various prospective chicken housing professionals pitch an array of lodging asserting to be the excellent remedy to your chicken real estate needs. Often the rate looks eye-catching, the house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical and also nasty coops swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was only an expensive stack of fire wood and a tiny group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop And Run Plans in Winchester, Illinois
More often than not these standardized designs are built of fast grown lumber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The very first warm and comfortable day indicates the wood dries and also cracks, the felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decline of their when appealing apartment however since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and most likely crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A few joints as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big area and also the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the major demands of housing come down to 3 points which will define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will additionally naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries might happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is obviously much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they ought to be greater 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. Ideally your house must have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. Your home should have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will develop every night, even in the coldest of climate. Realize, ventilation deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of holes on contrary walls of the house and at the very same level, this is just what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, yet you must additionally take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping density for a free range bird is (and allow's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens at home is possibly 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 several of the bargain homes - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, right air flow and enough nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You may believe you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the best house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the right therapy. Ultimately your chicken and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be much the better for it.build chick
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