Chicken Coops for Sale in Nebo, Kentucky
Chicken Coops for Sale in Nebo, Kentucky
Chicken Coops — The Top 5 Requirements
Chicken Coops – What You Need
Happy, healthy chickens need proper housing, but knowing what you need may seem daunting. Don’t let choosing the house for your chickens intimidate you. Meeting the needs of your flock, whether building your own chicken castle or buying ready-made, is easy and should provide for four basic needs.
- Protection from the elements
- Protection from predators
- Place for laying eggs
- A roost at night
The Components of a Chicken Coop
As I wrote in my , chickens have an innate homing instinct, keeping your flock close to home. Our feathered kids are such home bodies that even free ranging, every night before sundown all our chickens are perched in the coop. I always recommend a protected place for your flock to come home and roost for the night, even when free ranging.
You don’t need a poultry castle for your chickens to come home to. come in many shapes, sizes, and designs, from fancy to plain. Believe it or not, your chickens won’t care what the coop looks like as long as it provides the above four basic needs.
With that said, before deciding what type of coop you are going to buy or build, you must determine what coop features are needed that most closely conform to a chicken’s natural behavior. Hopefully I can help you understand what you need in the design of your chicken coop.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. All chicken coops need 3 things; a roof, 4 walls, and a doorway for entering and leaving. The design and the materials used for the chicken coop is up to you. As long as it is mostly draft free (you still need healthy ventilation), your choices are endless.
Your coop space is based on the number of chickens you plan to house. A good rule of thumb is 4 square feet of floor space per large chicken and 3 square feet for the smaller bantam breeds. Also consider the ease of cleaning when choosing your coop design; you’ll be glad you did.
Security
Making a chicken coop predator free is the most important part of building a home for your flock. Your coop must be secure from the top, bottom, and all sides. When looking at any pre-made coop or chicken coop building plans, consider all angles for security. Not only should you consider the security of the coop itself, but the security of the yard and run as well.
When choosing the wire for your run and coop, we advise steering clear of standard chicken wire. While it works well for keeping your chickens contained it’s not entirely predator proof. Because the holes in standard chicken wire are large, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes can still reach through the mesh, causing harm to your chickens. Always use a small hole wire like hardware cloth with ½ inch openings.
Another consideration when building the chicken yard or run, is airborne predators like hawks. You must include covering the top of the run as well. Our chicken runs use the same size mesh fencing on the top as the sides.
Finally, there are predators from below, such as rats and mice. These critters are attracted to the feed and droppings and like to burrow under your coop. Protect your chickens by using a coop with a floor built into it or burying small mesh fencing below the coop and extending it about 12 inches out on all sides.
The Outside Run
All coops need a connecting chicken run or pen. Chickens need access to the outside to do all those “chicken things”, like dirt baths, catching bugs, scratching dirt, or just relaxing in the sunshine or shade.
Ideally, your chicken run should have 10 square feet of ground space per full size chicken. The smaller bantam breeds require less, about 7 square feet per chicken. If your chickens free range the majority of the day, you can get by with less space.
Laying Boxes
If you want eggs, you need laying boxes. These can be as fancy or as plain as you like, just as long as they are about 12” x 12” and raised off the ground a few inches. You need one box for every 4 laying hens. Boxes should comfortably fit the chicken and have low enough sides for the hens to step over. Be sure to keep your boxes lined with clean straw or other bedding.
Roosting Perches
All birds roost, including chickens. Your coop needs a roosting bar or something off the ground on which your chickens can perch. We strongly suggest having perches both inside the coop and outside in the run area.
When figuring roosting pole size, provide 5-10” of space per chicken and 10” of space between each pole if you are using more than one. Multiple poles also need grading like ladders so the farthest pole is several inches higher than the next.
There are many shapes, sizes, and styles of chicken coops to choose from. Making the right choice for your needs is important, and all coops need to contain all necessary elements.
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Chicken Coop Yard Ideas in Nebo, Kentucky
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Nebo Kentucky" 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 Nebo Kentucky chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Nebo, Kentucky With the significant rise in poultry keeping there has been an equally large rise in the range of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry housing is a case in factor. It's also a traditional example of the good old bandwagon being got on as various prospective fowl housing experts peddle a selection of holiday accommodation claiming to be the excellent solution to your chicken housing demands. Usually the rate looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical as well as awful cages swamping the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was only an expensive pile of fire wood and a small group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Incubator in Nebo, Kentucky
Usually these mass produced versions are built of quick grown up lumber - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm day suggests the hardwood dries out and also fractures, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decline of their once desirable residential property yet because the hovel is now a place for, and also possibly abounding, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly match four big hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big room and the pop opening doorway is big enough for the breed you maintain, then the major requirements of housing boil down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally normally seek the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create the most poo) causing stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is certainly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds and also these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of the house. Your house must have ample air flow: without it then condensation will certainly develop every evening, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation deals with the principle of warm air leaving through a high void drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a collection of holes on other walls of your home as well as at the same level, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still true, however you must additionally take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a free array bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some chickens in the house is perhaps improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at several of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the best perches, correct air flow and sufficient nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You may assume you've grabbed a deal, but you as well as your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will certainly last for a couple of years, otherwise longer offered the correct therapy. In the end your fowl and also your chicken maintaining encounter will certainly be a lot the better for it.chicken plans
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