Chicken Coops for Sale in Welchs Creek, Kentucky
Chicken Coops for Sale in Welchs Creek, Kentucky
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.
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, 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 Cheap in Welchs Creek, Kentucky
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Welchs Creek 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 Welchs Creek Kentucky chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Welchs Creek, Kentucky With the massive rise in chicken keeping there has been an equally huge rise in the variety of chicken materiel for sale. Chicken real estate is a situation in point. It's additionally a timeless example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different potential chicken real estate professionals peddle a range of cottage asserting to be the suitable solution to your chicken housing requirements. Commonly the price looks attractive, the house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Definitely they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many low-cost and also horrible coops swamping the market. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed container appeared. The result was just a pricey heap of fire wood as well as a small flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Ebay in Welchs Creek, Kentucky
Typically these mass produced versions are built of quick grown up lumber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't close, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking occupants. The first warm and comfortable day means the hardwood dries and fractures, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their once attractive property yet considering that the hovel is currently a haven for, and also probably crawling with, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would suit four big chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you entrusted? A number of hinges and some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge space as well as the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the main demands of housing boil down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch should be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally normally search for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries might take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house 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 the house must have a least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these should be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. The house ought to have ample air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of cozy air leaving via a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a collection of holes on other walls of the house as well as at the exact same level, this is just what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, but you must also consider the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a totally free array bird is (and let's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close consider several of the bargain residences - it could well be your home has the best perches, proper ventilation as well as ample nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, but 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 get exactly what you pay for". You could think you've got a bargain, however you and your group could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and also it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer given the right therapy. Ultimately your poultry and your fowl maintaining encounter will be much the better for it.chicken chicken
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