Chicken Coops for Sale in Losantville, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Losantville, Indiana
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
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So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Chicken Coop Designs in Losantville, Indiana
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Losantville Indiana" 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 Losantville Indiana chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Losantville, Indiana With the substantial rise in poultry keeping there has been an equally huge rise in the variety of chicken stuff on sale. Chicken real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's additionally a traditional example of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as various potential chicken housing specialists peddle a range of lodging declaring to be the excellent solution to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the rate looks desirable, your house looks eye-catching, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Certainly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable as well as unpleasant cages swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was just a pricey pile of firewood and also a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Incubator in Losantville, Indiana
Most of the time these mass produced models are constructed of quick grown lumber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that will not close, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The first warm day indicates the wood dries as well as cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching residential property yet since the hovel is now a haven for, as well as possibly abounding, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit four large hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big space as well as the pop hole door is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, after that the primary demands of real estate come down to three factors which will define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of types of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot sits easily on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they create one of the most poo) causing soiled eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home ought to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. Your house ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works on the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high void attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on other walls of the house and also at the same level, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still real, however you should likewise take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a cost-free variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in your home is possibly improved or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close check out a few of the bargain residences - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, proper air flow and ample nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You could assume you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer offered the proper treatment. In the end your fowl and your poultry maintaining experience will be considerably the better for it.chickens coops
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