Chicken Coops for Sale in Alna, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Alna, Maine
building our homestead | the chicken coop.
When Justin and I had been , he took me to his family’s farm for Thanksgiving. I was already nervous as it was – he was a new boyfriend and I was meeting his family – but by the end of the weekend they’d coerced convinced me to drive a skid loader, fire off a few rounds at some coffee cans, and forage for my own breakfast in the chicken coop. When we came back the next spring, there were a handful of baby chicks fluttering around the yard and I thought they were so precious. Uncle Bill handed me one, nearly weightless in my palm, all its hollow bones twitching against my fingers. It made me nervous, how fragile it felt and how anxious it seemed to get back to its Mama Bird.
But the eggs? The eggs I loved. I loved the plastic Easter egg sitting inside the nesting box (to encourage the ladies to lay there); I loved the varying shades of brown, the speckled pattern and the occasional pastel green egg that appeared. They made the white grocery store eggs look so bland, so boring. And when we brought the eggs inside to fry up alongside our buttered toast, their yolks were electric orange. I’d never seen anything like it before (they grow pumpkins on the farm and feed the chickens with the broken pieces, thus the late-autumn yolks are especially colorful). I slid two over-easy’s onto my plate and split them open with the prong of my fork and watched the yolk puddle out to my toast. I think about that breakfast a lot, about the smell of the barn early in the morning; how Justin and I were living outside our comfort zones and learning to love each other; how he casually mentioned that, one day, we might have a farm.
We don’t have a full-blown farm, not by a long shot, but after trying to and finally accepting this is where we’ll stay, we decided to start building our backyard homestead. Justin bought the blueprints for a chicken coop and set to work in our garage over the winter. We poured the concrete footers together before Christmas, before the frost would come, and Justin etched our initials into the last one while it was still wet. He spent hours under the fluorescent lights of the garage bay, hammering and nailing and sometimes painting. And finally, after months of work, we hauled it outside with a trailer and some extra manpower.
Most of the books we read said chickens were low-maintenance, that they don’t need much besides a cardboard box and some fresh water. But my husband, God love him, is an overachiever. So our chickens will have the Ritz Carlton of chicken coops to call home. And this coming weekend, our chicks will arrive! We have nine in total – three each of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Red, and Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers). They’ll live in a brooder box in our garage for the first few weeks to stay toasty warm, and by the end of May or June we’ll move them out to the luxury hotel we call a chicken coop. It isn’t quite finished, we still need to add shingles and chicken wire all around, but I’m so proud of it. I’m proud of what we’re doing, how we live, how we eat, how we teach our kids about food and about life.
So cheers to the homestead! We’re finally doing it.
***
First few photos are iPhone.
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Chicken Coop Building Plans in Alna, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Alna Maine" 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 Alna Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Alna, Maine With the substantial boost in poultry maintaining there has actually been an equally big rise in the range of chicken materiel for sale. Chicken housing is an instance in point. It's additionally a timeless example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different would-be chicken real estate experts peddle an array of accommodation asserting to be the suitable solution to your chicken real estate needs. Typically the rate looks eye-catching, your house looks eye-catching, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many inexpensive and also awful coops flooding the market. I understand this as I've examined a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was only a costly heap of firewood and a small flock of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop On Wheels in Alna, Maine
Most of the time these standardized versions are created of quick grown up timber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm day indicates the timber dries out and also cracks, the felt roofing bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their frustration at the decline of their as soon as appealing home however considering that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, as well as probably crawling with, the fowl caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would match 4 huge hens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you left with? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big area and also the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, after that the major needs of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Most types of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box access as chickens will additionally naturally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small types this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will 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 house ought to have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. Your house should have ample air flow: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Know, air flow works on the concept of warm air leaving via a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of the house and at the exact same level, this is what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, but you ought to also think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a cost-free array bird is (as well as let's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens in your home is potentially boosted or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at several of the bargain homes - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow and enough nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get just what you pay for". You could believe you've grabbed a bargain, yet you and also your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and also it will last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the proper treatment. In the long run your poultry as well as your poultry keeping encounter will certainly be much the better for it.chickens coops
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