close

Chicken Coops for Sale in Lowell, Indiana

Chicken Coops for Sale in Lowell, Indiana

Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1

Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1

January 9, 2011 by in , , with

I have been helping our friends build a chicken coop so that they can start raising there own hens and producing their own eggs. The week before I helped them build a compost pile so that they could start composting their yard waist on a larger scale, now we move into coop development. After researching different designs and methods for building a coop I decided to go with one that would fit well in the tropics. Much like San Diego, you don’t have to worry about  a freeze or the chickens getting to cold, however you do need to be concerned with other natural elements like predators, tropical rain storms, gusty winds and too much heat. Taking this into consideration  I designed a coop that would protect the hens from the elements, yet be opened up enough to allow a breeze and shade for the hens to grow in.

Chicken Coop Design

Chicken Coop Plans

The structure of the coop is 4x8x8. It is 4 ft wide by 8ft long and 8ft high at its highest point. The floor of the hen house is three feet off of the ground. There is a thatched roof covering the length of the coop to keep out the rain and sun. The roofs highest point is at 8ft (in the center) dropping down to 6ft on the front side, and 7ft  on the back side. This allows for a consistent air flow throughout the coop

Chicken Coop Plans (Side Views)

I designed the coop on paper, worked out the measurements and then we started putting it together after we picked up the supplies. As expected we made a few adjustments as we began to put the coop together to fit the surroundings a little better. One thing that I didn’t keep in mind was the slope that we would be working on, this eventually elevated the ‘run’ side a little more giving the hens an extra 6 inches to play around in.

Chicken Coop Supplies (So Far)

  • 3  4×8′ 1/2″ pieces of plywood
  • 20  2x4x8′ studs
  • 12 2x2x8′ studs
  • 1 6x2x8′ stud
  • 2 4×8′ roofing sheets
  • 1 4×50′ roll of chicken wire
  • 1 box 3.5″ screws
  • 1 box 2″ screws
  • 6 hinges
  • 3 latches
  • 4 cinder blocks

Chicken Coop Structure

Putting up the Frame

After we picked a location by the mango tree, the first thing that we did was put together the frame. This would be our skeleton if you will, everything else would be built off of the frame. As mentioned before the frame of the structure is 4ft wide by 8ft long. We put 6ft posts on the front side, 7ft posts on the back side, and two 8ft posts on the ends (for the roof). Notice the cinder blocks used to give us a level playing field, not the prettiest look, this is something that we will fix up as we finish the project.

Chicken Coop Construction

Putting Up the Walls

After we got the frame up we started to work on the hen house itself, this is where then hens will go to lay their many eggs in the future. We closed off the floor and the back wall first because these are permanent, no doors or latches needed. In this picture you can see that we also added a few more frame pieces for the roof, this was because of the type of roofing that we decided to go with. You will be able to see why when we finish.

Hen House Layout

Building the Hen House

Once we put in the permanent walls and floor we began building the doors that would allow us access into the hen house for cleaning and feeding. This front door section will open up giving us plenty of room to work around the hen house.

Nesting Boxes

The Nesting Boxes

The Nesting Boxes came next on our plans. We decided to do two rows of boxes 4 boxes deep. This gives us a total of 8 nesting boxes. Each box is 12″x12″12″. We started the bottom row 6 inches off of the floor and the next row 12 inches above that. We left a 3″ over hang to give the hens something to climb up to before entering their boxes. We also put a 4.5 inch lip on the front of the boxes making the entrance to the boxes 7.5″x12″. We did this to give the hens more protection and less room to move around. This should prevent them or the other hens from eating their eggs once they began producing.

Entrance for Eggs

Behind the nesting boxes, on the outside of the hen house we installed two barn style doors to give us easy access to all of the boxes, thus giving us easy access to the eggs down the road. This will also make it easier for cleaning an maintenance when the time comes.

Hen House Entrance

Hen House Entrance

This last image is of the entrance into the hen house, this was the last thing that we finished up to this point. We still have the roof, chicken wire enclosure and last minute adjustments. As you can see the Tropical Chicken Coop is coming along just fine. We are almost there but not quite yet. Once we get some more time to work on it we should be able to wrap up this project and move the hens in. Eggs are on their way!

Tagged , ,

Chicken coops for sale in Lowell Indiana can be found in agricultural newspapers and community newspapers. The coops are designed for housing for chickens in a safe and secure environment. They generally consist of a small building or large box that is then sectioned off to smaller boxes where the chickens go to roost (or sleep). Chicken coops are a must for raising chickens. Lowell Indiana chicken coops are commonly constructed from wood products. They are not very stable buildings and provide only minimal protection from the elements. Now chicken houses used for large production facilities are a entirely different structure, they are huge and can hold up to 10000 chickens. The coops are typically used for backyard operations, or small family farms. They vary in size depending on the number of residents they house. chicken-coops-in-Lowell-INFinding chicken coops for sale in Lowell Indiana is probably not one of the easiest of items to find. There are manufacturers of chicken houses and coops that sell them out right and Lowell Indiana farm supply stores that they can also be purchased through, but generally speaking it will take some effort to find a chicken coop for sale in Lowell Indiana, especially if your location is not a typically rural location. In rural locations that are much more abundant and easily had. Chicken Coops for sale in Lowell IN

Baby Chick Care in Lowell, Indiana

A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Lowell 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 Lowell Indiana chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Lowell, Indiana With the significant increase in chicken keeping there has been a just as huge increase in the range of chicken materiel on sale. Fowl housing is a situation in point. It's likewise a traditional instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential chicken real estate professionals pitch an array of lodging claiming to be the excellent remedy to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the cost looks appealing, your house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive and also unpleasant coops flooding the marketplace. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was just a costly heap of firewood and also a tiny group of bemused and also now homeless bantams. Chickens for sale in Lowell IN

Chicken Coop Easy in Lowell, Indiana

Usually these standardized designs are built of fast grown hardwood - come the first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that won't close, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking residents. The initial warm day means the hardwood dries out and splits, the felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching property however since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and probably abounding, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would match 4 big hens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you left with? A few hinges and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big area and also the pop hole doorway allows enough for the breed you maintain, then the main requirements of real estate come down to three points which will certainly specify the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch should be more than the nest box access as chickens will additionally normally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they produce the most poo) leading to stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is certainly less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly 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 ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your home should have adequate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the chilliest of weather. Realize, ventilation works on the principle of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of the house and at the very same level, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still true, yet you ought to likewise consider the run dimension. The EU optimum legal stocking density for a free range bird is (and allow's encounter it, one of the motivations for maintaining some chickens in the house is possibly enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close take a look at a few of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, right ventilation as well as sufficient nest boxes for a practical 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 obtain exactly what you pay for". You could think you've got a bargain, however you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and also it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer given the appropriate treatment. In the long run your poultry and your fowl maintaining encounter will be a lot the far better for it.
coop     plan
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Greenville, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Clarksburg, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Hagerstown, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Kewanna, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Craigville, Indiana