Chicken Coops for Sale in Hays, Kansas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Hays, Kansas
Metal Siding on Chicken Coops
My chicken coops have always had metal roofs, and now I’m trying out metal siding, on the grounds that I want anything I build to last 20 years without maintenance, and the exterior plywood I’ve been using doesn’t deliver that.
[Update: Seven years after writing this blog post, the corrugated metal walls are holding up well. Seven years is long enough for plywood walls to start falling to pieces, but the metal walls are holding up well, with only a bit of rust here and there.]
One of my old pasture houses, with a 15-year-old metal roof and 7-year-old metal siding.
Does Metal Promote Condensation and Wetness?
People will tell you that metal siding sweats, because of condensation. This is true if the inside of the house is warmer than the outside, since moisture from the warm house will condense on the cold walls and ceiling. But it’s not about metal vs. wood, since condensation forms on any kind of roof or wall, no matter what it’s made of. In marginal cases, it’s more visible on metal because it’s 100% non-absorbent.
A Fresh-Air House is a Dry House
But you can dodge the problem with a fresh-air poultry house. If you add enough ventilation, the inside of the house is just as cold as the outside, and you get no condensation. My metal roofs don’t have condensation unless there’s snow on the roof and temperatures are above freezing. The rest of the time, my highly ventilated houses have dry ceilings and walls.
Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, by Prince T. Woods. Reprinted by me!
This is one of the main points of , the chicken-coop book I’ve republished (check out the if you haven’t already). It focuses on the advantage of well-ventilated houses, a concept that still needs to be repeated constantly today. You won’t read anything about metal walls or roofs in this book, since it predates their use, but it’s a treasure trove in other ways.
You can also prevent condensation with insulation, but I don’t do that.
Can you really prevent damp chicken houses through ventilation alone? Well, it works for me, and I live in Oregon, which has a famously wet climate!
Installing Corrugated Sheet Metal Walls
Back to the construction project. In keeping with my other rule of construction (never use a saw when you can buy stuff that’s already the right size), I ignored my existing stock of 10-foot metal roofing and obtained some cheap 8-foot corrugated roofing from Home Depot. My chicken houses are 8×8 feet.
Karen and I banged these sheets onto a couple of sides of a chicken house where the old OSB siding was falling to pieces. We used roofing screws. These are hex drive screws with neoprene washers. We used to use roofing nails, but they pull loose too easily and we hate having roofing panels flapping loose in the breeze! And using power tools instead of a hammer keeps my shoulders and back from seizing up. I bang the screw in a short way with a hammer, then drive it home with a cordless drill.
I’m told that roofing screws have three times the holding power of nails.
These panels went on very quickly, and if they ever rust through (which they will, at the bottom edges anyway, if I allow chicken manure to pile up against them), I can take the screws out and replace them just as easily.
So far, so good. The shiny metal really brightens up the interior of the chicken house, and because it’s non-porous, it provides no place for roost mites to accumulate.
Cheap Roofing is Good Enough
Plain old “ripple metal” (corrugated steel) is less rigid than V-channel roofing, but it’s proven to be stiff enough, even for a house that gets dragged around behind a tractor, which can put all sorts of stresses on it, especially if it gets hung up on holes and bumps along the way. So far, so good. That means that, so far, the cheapest possible corrugated metal has been perfectly adequate.
Watch out for translucent corrugated fiberglass. In my experience, it’s not very strong and becomes increasingly brittle over time. I’m sure it has its uses, but don’t think of it as being structural in the way that plywood and corrugated steel are.
You Don’t Have to Settle for Ugly
Of course, you can build a much prettier house with metal roofing with baked-enamel finishes in designer colors, and you should probably do this if you don’t want a silver house, since it’s hard to get paint to stick to galvanized steel. While I’m always looking for the cheapest, longest-lasting, easiest-to-build designs, there are plenty of other ways of approaching the problem of chicken-coop design.
Related
Chicken Coop Kit For 6 Chickens in Hays, Kansas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Hays Kansas" 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 Hays Kansas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Hays, Kansas With the huge boost in chicken keeping there has actually been a similarly large rise in the variety of chicken materiel for sale. Chicken real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's also a timeless example of the great old bandwagon being got on as various prospective poultry housing experts peddle a selection of cottage claiming to be the ideal remedy to your chicken housing needs. Usually the cost looks attractive, the house looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Definitely they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap as well as unpleasant cages swamping the market. I understand this as I've tested a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The outcome was just an expensive stack of firewood as well as a little flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Ideas in Hays, Kansas
Usually these mass produced versions are created of quick grown lumber - come the first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The first warm and comfortable day implies the hardwood dries and splits, the felt roof covering bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decrease of their once eye-catching apartment but because the hovel is now a place for, and most likely crawling with, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 big hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you entrusted? A number of joints and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge room and the pop opening door allows sufficient for the type you keep, after that the main needs of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost at night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also normally search for the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is certainly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home needs to have a least one nest box for each three birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. The house ought to have ample air flow: without it after that condensation will accumulate every night, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Be aware, ventilation works on the principle of warm air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on contrary wall surfaces of your home and also at the exact same degree, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still real, but you need to also take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking density for a totally free variety bird is (as well as allow's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens at home is potentially improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at a few of the bargain residences - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, appropriate ventilation as well as adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You could assume you've got a deal, yet you and also your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and it will last for a few decades, if not longer offered the proper treatment. In the end your chicken as well as your poultry keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the much better for it.plans coops
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