Chicken Coops for Sale in Shelby, Indiana
Chicken Coops for Sale in Shelby, Indiana
How to Choose the Right Chicken Coop
With Spring well underway, many of us are doing a little spring cleaning and preparing for some new chicks! Maybe it’s time for a new coop? Here are some basic tips for choosing the right coop for your flock and how to take care of it so you can be sure your chickens and other fowl are happy and healthy.
A chicken coop can have many purposes. It can be as simple as a place to roost at night if your flock is free range, or, if you prefer to keep your flock in one place, serves as their all-inclusive home with room for roosting, exercise, feeding, and laying eggs. There are many different designs and layouts to choose from when picking out a coop. You can buy one pre-made, or find instructions for building your own. Here are some factors to consider when choosing your flock’s home:
- Key Features There are a few basic features you’ll want for any chicken coop:
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Roosting bars don’t have to be fancy, and they’ll give your hens a safe place to sleep at night. Like most birds, chickens, turkeys, and other types of fowl prefer sleeping in an elevated area in order to stay safe from predators. Roosting bars will provide a place for your hens to perch at night so they can sleep soundly.
- A nesting box is a great way to encourage your hens to lay their eggs in a specific spot. If the coop you own doesn’t have built-in boxes, milk crates are a great substitute!
- Dispensers are useful for keeping food and water clean. There are plenty of styles you can buy, or you can make them yourself. Keep food and water dispensers slightly elevated, a few inches off the ground, in order to prevent dirt from getting in. If you have young chicks in your coop, remember to make sure the food and water are accessible, and that they are not at risk of getting caught in the water dish and drowning.
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- Space
Our ladies are free range during the day, so they don’t need much space in their coop. Having enough space is important for your coop if you want to avoid fighting. The average recommendation is a minimum of 1-2 square feet per bird, and much more if your flock remains in the coop 24/7. If your flock is not given enough space, it won’t be long before you notice the signs. Look for birds pecking at one another and birds with missing feathers. Bullying is a common side effect when there isn’t enough room to go around. If you do notice signs of bullying in your flock, separate the bullied birds until they are better and increase the amount of space in your coop.
- Safety There are a number of things that might affect your flock’s safety, whether it’s predators or the elements. Protect your flock from extreme temperatures by ensuring that your coop is well insulated and also well ventilated to allow proper airflow. There are a number of things you can do each year to prepare your flock for winter, and in the summer months they need access to fresh air and water in order to keep cool. As for predators, a properly enclosed coop will keep out larger animals, and roosting bars will allow your birds to stay at a safe height while they sleep.
- Convenience There are plenty of things to think about for your hens when choosing the right coop, but don’t forget about yourself! A good coop will be easily accessible so that you can gather eggs, change out food and water, and clean the coop without much hassle. Many coops will have larger doors or hatches that allow you better access inside the coop, and can be locked up when you are finished.
Basic Coop Care Once you’ve chosen the right coop, maintaining it is your next step. Be sure to place your coop in an area that will stay dry so you and your flock won’t have to deal with mud and puddles after some wet weather. Give your hens a supply of hay or straw so they can keep warm and build nests, and provide an area with clean dust or sand that will allow your birds to clean themselves and prevent mites. Change out dirty straw regularly, and clean out any droppings before they build up too much. Many coops are designed so that droppings can be removed easily, but in our lean-to coop we use a rake to pull them out. Cleaning up droppings and old food and keeping the coop dry will prevent mold and keep out bugs and other pests.
The right coop will ensure the health and safety of your backyard flock!
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Baby Chick Care in Shelby, Indiana
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Shelby 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 Shelby Indiana chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Shelby, Indiana With the substantial increase in chicken keeping there has been a just as large rise in the range of fowl paraphernalia on sale. Chicken housing is a case in factor. It's also a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective chicken real estate experts peddle a variety of lodging declaring to be the excellent solution to your chicken housing requirements. Often the rate looks desirable, your house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Undoubtedly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable and also unpleasant cages swamping the market. I recognize this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was only an expensive heap of firewood and a small group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits For 6-8 Chickens in Shelby, Indiana
Usually these mass produced designs are constructed of quick grown up wood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't close, or tearing the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The first cozy day suggests the hardwood dries as well as fractures, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their when attractive home but considering that the hovel is now a haven for, as well as probably abounding, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit 4 big chickens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a large space and the pop opening doorway allows sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the major requirements of real estate boil down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will likewise normally 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 create one of the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house needs to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these need to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your home must have ample air flow: without it after that condensation will develop every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Realize, air flow deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of the house and at the same degree, this is exactly what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still real, however you ought to likewise take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking thickness for a cost-free variety bird is (and allow's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens in the house is possibly improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close check out some of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the best perches, proper air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've got hold of a deal, yet you as well as your group could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will last for a few decades, if not longer provided the proper treatment. Ultimately your fowl and your poultry keeping experience will certainly be a lot the better for it.chickens chick
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