Baby Chickens for Sale in Rock Valley, Iowa
Baby Chickens for Sale in Rock Valley, Iowa
Build Your Own Chicken Coop – A story of chickens
So WAY back in March…Josh and I had a talk with the boys and we decided as a family that we would get some chickens. We were all pretty excited about this new adventure and couldn’t wait to get started! At the beginning of April we headed over to to figure out what we would need and how many chickens we wanted. They had a very helpful employee who told us everything we would need to know about taking care of our chickens. Also, lucky for us we had Housewife Gena available to answer any questions we might have!
The boys were excited to help pick out the chickens and were even more excited when the IFA staff told us the chicks needed to be held lots and lots so they would be used to the kids. 🙂� After about an hour there we came home with…
Six adorable chicks! Because we are a family of five we decided to get two chickens that are said to lay daily and four chickens that lay 3-4 times a week. We figured that would be plenty of eggs for us!
A couple weeks later, IFA did an Easter Egg Hunt. Now being a farm supply store, they don’t give away just candy in their eggs, they also give away…you guessed it CHICKENS! (And bunnies and ducks and turkeys) Housewife Jenn’s kids ended up with four leghorn chicks! Another family in our ward decided they didn’t need any extra chickens and gave Jenn’s family another two chicks! Since we were already building a coop for our chicks, we offered to let Jenn’s family’s chicks live with ours.
So here are the little chicks! Happy under their heat lamp and eating away! 🙂�
While our chicks were perfectly happy in the garage, in their tote…it quickly got too small for 12 chicks. As soon as they were ready, we transferred them to the backyard to a makeshift coop. I did not take a picture of the makeshift coop because…well it was pretty sad. It served it’s purpose and the chickens loved it but it was not anything you’d want to show off! With that in mind, Josh began the process of building a coop for our chickens. We saw a coop at IFA that we thought looked great! However, it was $600.00. As much as we liked our chickens…we didn’t $600.00 like them!
So Josh took a few measurements and we sketched out what we wanted for our chickens, using the IFA coop as inspiration. We took a trip to Lowe’s to price out our materials. We were lucky enough that we had left over wood, Jenn’s family had left over wood and a family a few houses down from us reroofed their house and donated their left over roofing supplies to us! It was our goal to use as many materials as we already had and keep the cost as low as possible!
Let me say now…Josh and I have never “built” anything. Really. This was quite an adventure for us (mostly Josh since he did almost all of the work) and I’m so happy with how it all turned out!
He started with the base for the coop itself. We wanted to make sure that there was enough clearance for the chickens to use under the coop as part of the chicken run.
He used four 3″ screws in each post to make sure it was nice and sturdy.
Wall framing almost done!
Look what happens when you start building a coop…your chickens start laying eggs! 🙂� (So far Jenn’s chickens are the only ones laying. Lucky for us, our chickens are DUAL chickens so if they don’t get to laying…they going to get to frying!)
The framing completed from two angles.
Up go the walls!
Putting in the hinged door for collecting eggs.
Getting the eggs out will be a breeze! 🙂�
A few angles of the walls all up and the plywood for the roof up. As you can see, our coop has skylights…that’s how we roll.
First coat of paint and the tar paper on the roof. You may wonder why we chose this color for the coop. Well to be completely honest, we picked colors we wanted to paint our house and figured the coop would be the perfect guinea pig to see if we like the colors! 🙂� The coop is Valspar’s Royal Gray. (I know, it looks blue to me too!)
For the door we chose Valspar’s Kettle Black. It has blue undertones so it goes really well with the Royal Gray.
The roof complete with the windows in. I’ve seen lots of super cute coops with real glass windows. It was less expensive ($1.29 a pane) to just use plexiglass. And it worked perfectly!
The coop with the final coat of paint, windows/hardware on and trim put up.
The door on the coop. We chose to put a large door on the side to make it easier to clean out for us. And I have to say that it makes it look way cuter! 🙂�
The Roosting bar inside the coop.
Trim all painted and mesh put around the bottom of the coop.
The nesting boxes. The only thing I didn’t get a picture of was the peel and stick tiles that we put on the bottom of the coop. They were only $0.02 a tile! I think we ended up using about 14 tiles.
The finished product with the happy chickens inside!
Another angle. After the coop itself was completed. Josh used 2 x 2’s and 2 x 3’s to build the frame for the yard and another, outdoor roosting bar. We also added in the ramp for the chickens to get into the coop. I’m super proud of Josh for all of his hard work and I’m really excited for how amazing it turned out!! Our total cost for the entire coop…every last nail, hinge, can of paint, everything was about $290.00. And the best part is the chicken coop and run are significantly bigger than the one at IFA. 🙂� So HUGE round of applause for Josh and the coop!
UPDATE: Hello dear readers!!! This has been a long time coming, but this post is going to get a HUGE revamp! With having babies and life getting in the way, I’ve neglected this post and getting out the information that I should. I am going to be working on updating this post with as much information on the building and materials as I can. We didn’t keep super great track of all the materials we used, but I will do the best I can to give you as much info as possible! Thank you all again for loving this project!
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Baby Chicks To Buy in Rock Valley, Iowa
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Rock Valley Iowa, including Sussex Chickens, Welsummer Chickens, Turken Chickens and more. Be sure to check out the Bargain Specials, as you can combine different egg layers in smaller amounts and buy as an assortment. Rock Valley Iowa also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in Rock Valley Iowa, bantams for sale, ducks for sale, geese for sale, turkeys for sale, guinea for sale, peafowl for sale, pheasant for sale, chukar partridge for sale, bobwhite for sale, many different breeds of baby chicks for sale in Rock Valley IA.Baby Chickens On Sale in Rock Valley, Iowa
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Rock Valley Iowa catalog is a yearly traditions in many houses. My kids and I eagerly await the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. We love looking at all the cool and different chicken breeds available. Catalogs are free so head on over to their site and request one if you are interested.Typically hatcheries online offer both standard breeds
and bantams. Bantams are fun hardy little chickens, they lay tiny eggs
that kids especially love collecting. Bantams typically weigh less than 2
pounds when full grown. Just like ordering anything online there are pros
and cons to ordering baby chicks online. Pros of buying baby chicks in
Rock Valley Iowa * Big Selection - If you are wanting a large
variety of different chicken breeds and egg colors, you will find the best
selection at an online hatchery. * Both Bantams and full sized chickens
available * You get to choose what sex you want. If you want a mixture of
both male and female then choosing a "straight run" will save you money
and you will get a mixture of male and female chicks. You can also choose
all males or all females too. * Weekly specials. Hatcheries have sales on
chicks, you are likely to get a good deal if you are flexible with the
breeds you are wanting. Cons of buying baby chicks in Rock Valley
Iowa * Order early to get the best selection. Certain breeds sell
out fast, sometimes as early as 6 months in advance of shipping! If you
are wanting a certain breed it's best to order your chicks in the fall
before their orders sell out.
Baby Chickens For Sale Free Shipping in Rock Valley, Iowa
Quantity - you must order a certain number of chicks. Typically hatcheries will require you buy a minimum of 25 chicks at a time. The number is necessary for the chicks survival during shipping. All 25 chicks are put in one small box without heat. They are crowded in the box and produce enough body heat to arrive in good shape. * The wait - If you choose to buy chicks from a feed store you will have them the same day but if you choose to go with a hatchery you have to wait until they are ready to ship and then wait for the chicks to arrive. Ordering baby chicks online in Rock Valley Iowa is easy and has always been a very pleasant experience of me. It can be a little frustrating waiting for the chicks but it's so worth the wait. When the post office calls and you hear all those little "cheeps" or "chirps" in the background you'll know the wait was worth it! How to Care for your new baby chickens in Rock Valley, Iowa Baby chicks are quite adorable and tough to stand up to, but it's ideal to prepare for their arrival before you get them. Prepare first by gathering not only the appropriate materials, yet also the correct expertise to look after them. Raising baby chicks is fairly easy, you just have to offer them with the following: A clean and cozy habitat Lots of food and water Focus as well as love Environment Your environment can be an easy box, fish tank, cat service provider, or guinea porker cage. Line it with old towels and also coverings (with no loosened strings!) to start, and also after a couple of weeks use straw over newspaper. Note: Avoid making use of only paper or various other slipper surfaces-- or your chicks legs could expand misshapen. You likewise need something to serve up food as well as water in, such as a chicken feeder and also water recipe from the feed store, or a pickle jar cover for food and also an animal bird water dispenser from a pet shop. Also, as the chicks age you can present a perch into the environment to obtain them educated on perching. Heat To keep your chicks warm you need to supply them with a warmth source. This could be as simple as a 100 watt light bulb in a reflective clamp design light from a hardware store, or an infrared reptile warmth light bulb likewise work effectively (my referral). Chicks require this heat 24/7 up until their downy fluff is changed with plumes (which can take up to 2 months). The newly hatched out require a temperature in between 90 and also 100 levels, and every week this could be decreased by about 5 levels or so. The heat resource ought to be on merely one side of the cage to allow chicks an array of temperatures. The chicks are your ideal thermostat- if they are concealing in the opposite edge of your warmth lamp, you have to lower the temperature. If they are surrounding each various other under the heat (not just curling up), you need to include some heat. House cleaning Sanitation is vital and it keeps your chicks healthy. Be sure to alter the bedding usually as well as consistently supply tidy food as well as water Food and also water. Chicks grow really quickly which calls for lots of clean food and also water. Supply enough in any way times and also examine commonly to prevent thirsty and also hungry chicks. Chick food is various than grown-up chicken food, and also it is available in both medicated and also non-medicated ranges. Feed chick food for the first 2 months, after that switch over to a grower food (~ 17 % healthy protein) for another 2 months, and then to a somewhat lower healthy protein feed or a level feed (if you have layers). Soil Some chicks like to get a running start on taking filth baths, while others won't take up that activity up until they are older. If you have the space in your chick enclosure, present a tray of sand or dirt for them to shower in. Interest as well as love There are a few benefits to spending quality time with your chicks. To start with, they will certainly most likely bond with you as well as not run away as adults. Second, if you examine your chicks daily as well as enjoy their behavior, you could capture health problem or other troubles previously. Watch out for wheezing, limping, or various other undesirable indications. Make certain to additionally consider their poop, as looseness of the bowels could bring about matted plumes as well as stopped up cloaca. Lastly, it is important to look out for social issues, such as the littlest chick obtaining teased. Empty nest syndrome So your chicks are now completely feathery as well as its time for them to leave the safety of your residence as well as relocate outside into a coop. Check out our section on chicken coops to read more about cages and correct coop habitats.Baby Chickens Male Or Female Raising Baby Quail Chicks
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