Chicken Coops for Sale in Homestead, Iowa
Chicken Coops for Sale in Homestead, Iowa
The Small Property Chicken Coop
Raising chickens has been one of the most rewarding activities that we’ve done on our homestead. While we don’t raise them for meat due to the city’s limitations, we reap an abundance of benefits from the eggs and the friendship we get from our girls.
In this next installment of , I’ll be sharing how my husband Todd designed and built Lucy and Ethel’s chicken coop using his ingenuity and minimal square footage on our .18 of an acre.
**This post contains affiliate links. Please see for more information.
, I was so excited to finally be able to raise a couple of my own “girls” to gather eggs from and get to know. I’m an animal lover, and seem to be able to make friends with any animal that will allow me, so I knew that these two sweet little chicks and I would be the best of friends. , and since there were only two of them, there was plenty of space for them to grow.
After moving some things around to set up our ‘barn’ area, Todd got to work on the chicken coop. Being a handy guy, he decided that he could design and build one that would be cheaper than a prefab one, as well as be able to fit where we needed it to on our small property homestead.
He chose to use the back of one of our sheds as the back wall, and another of our sheds as the side wall, which would save us some money on hardware cloth. He framed the rest of the coop and door with 2x4s. He also extended the side of the shed so that it would serve as the left wall of the coop.
This is the shed that is being used as the back wall of the coop. You can see on the right side of the shed where the new section was added for the left wall of the coop.
Todd designed the girls’ coop to be multi-level, rather than sprawling. He used plywood and 2x4s for the levels, and built an access ladder to both. The girls had a hard time not slipping on the sleek wood between the “steps” on the ladder, so I added a few strips of to those sections, which worked beautifully.
Here is a current photo of the two levels (please excuse the “lived in” look, I apparently hadn’t taken photos of the two levels when it was new). This is the top level, where we keep the girls’ nesting boxes. The ladder with the comes up the right side of this level, and it’s easy for the girls to hop up to the top of their nesting boxes, where they like to sleep at night. Todd also built a roost for them, which is actually a few inches offset from the edge of the level so when they poop, most of it falls to the ground.
Here is the second level, where the girls usually eat their evening treats, and where I keep their oyster shell and water (water not pictured). You can see how the ladder passes the second level up to the top level, which makes it easy for the girls to hop to the second level at snack time.
We left the bottom level as dirt, and I have been using the , which has worked out well for the most part. We haven’t had any issues with large rodents, and any mice that dare step foot into the coop are met with two hungry beaks.
Todd lined the front of the coop with 1″ hardware cloth and it has worked very well for us; however, I have heard that if you have issues with raccoons, it’s best to go with 1/2″ hardware cloth.
Another Space Saving Coop Idea
A friend of mine, Nora from , and is based on Todd’s multilevel chicken coop design. Their family has around 8-10 girls, so this brooder was a very good fit for them. It can definitely be built outdoors and used as a space-saving chicken coop for 1-3 chickens, or built indoors to use as a brooder for a larger flock.
As you can see, building a chicken coop to fit your small property needs can be a much better prospect than purchasing a prefab chicken coop. While prefab coops are beautiful and promise ease, tailoring your chicken coop to fit in just the right place on your small property can be more affordable, and in the long run, more convenient for your homestead setup. As long as your chicken coop meets , you can build a chicken coop that meets your homestead’s needed requirements as well, which will make everyone happy!
For more great information on raising chickens, please visit Fresh Eggs Daily’s Ultimate Chicken Care Guide.
What size is your property? Do you use space-saving techniques?
Chicken Coop For 6 Chickens in Homestead, Iowa
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Homestead Iowa" 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 Homestead Iowa chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Homestead, Iowa With the big rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as big rise in the array of poultry materiel on sale. Poultry housing is a proceedings in point. It's additionally a timeless example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous potential poultry housing specialists market an array of lodging asserting to be the perfect remedy to your chicken housing requirements. Typically the rate looks attractive, the house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Definitely they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical as well as unpleasant cages swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was only a costly stack of firewood as well as a tiny group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Out Of Pallets in Homestead, Iowa
Generally these mass produced models are built of quick grown up wood - come the very first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The very first cozy day implies the wood dries out and splits, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their frustration at the decrease of their once eye-catching apartment however considering that the hovel is now a haven for, as well as possibly abounding, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it stated on the blurb that it would fit four large hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A number of joints and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a big room and the pop hole door allows sufficient for the breed you keep, then the primary requirements of housing boil down to 3 factors which will define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. The majority of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits easily on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will likewise normally look for 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 one of the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your house should have a the very least one nest box for every three birds and these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. Your home must have adequate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, air flow works on the principle of warm air leaving through a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on other walls of your house and at the same degree, this is what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still true, but you ought to also think about the run size. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a cost-free range bird is (and also let's encounter it, among the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is possibly improved or much better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at a few of the bargain homes - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, correct air flow as well as enough nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've grabbed a bargain, but you and your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the correct treatment. In the long run your chicken and your fowl maintaining experience will certainly be much the much better for it.diy plan
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Barnes City, Iowa
Chicken Coops for Sale in Exline, Iowa
Chicken Coops for Sale in Garwin, Iowa
Chicken Coops for Sale in Charter Oak, Iowa
Chicken Coops for Sale in Grand Mound, Iowa