Chicken Coops for Sale in Cape Porpoise, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Cape Porpoise, Maine
Chicken Tractors vs Chicken Coops
A lot of people do not seem to know this but are also chicken houses. The only real difference between the two is that chicken tractors can be moved from place to place and a chicken house is fixed in one place. You can have both if you have the means and the space in your yard, but either will do to house your chicken flock, provided they all fit with plenty of room to move. If you are not too familiar with raising chickens and keeping hens, it wouldn’t be any wonder if you didn’t immediately realise this difference.
A fixed chicken house or chicken coop
Planning ahead
But now knowing that there is a difference between the two, it will be easier for you to plan how you’re going to keep your chickens housed. Especially if you are planning to raise your very own chickens soon, but don’t actually have them yet, you have the chance to look around and see if you can pick up something pre-loved (second hand!) or even modify something to suit your yard space and the number and types of chickens that you’re planning to keep. A purpose built chicken house or chicken tractor will probably suit best, but other types of small to medium animal enclosures could work equally well. It’s all an individual choice, really.
Chicken tractor plans
If you have been searching for different types of chicken tractor plans online, you will have seen a great variety of chicken tractor designs. While most may look similar to each other, there will also be some that have been made with a great deal of creativity. Some of those designs are so pretty that people cannot help but buy them or have them made. Sometimes, people attempt to make chicken tractors themselves too. This may or may not be successful depending on how gifted the individual is in carpentry and handiwork…but, hey, if it keeps the chickens in and safe and dry and warm, and the predators out, does it really matter?
What Are Chicken Tractors For?
All round protection
Depending on how big the tractor is, the chickens are free to roam around the enclosed space with plenty of room to move. This really is beneficial especially if there are some things around your yard area that you would like to protect from your chickens. For instance, if you have some plants that will be destroyed if pecked by chickens, if you have garden mulch in your garden beds (the chickens will rearrange that for you…) or if you have neighbors who keep a vegetable patch and don’t take kindly to your chickens helping themselves.
Largely, though, the chicken tractor is to protect the chickens from the environment as well – they can get through holes in fences and potentially fall foul of dogs, and it’s not unusual for a neighborhood dog to run loose and have a bit of sport with an unsuspecting chicken. Chickens and traffic don’t mix and if you live in a fairly rural area, foxes love a bit of chicken for dinner. If any of these situations sound like you, you can always house your flock in a decent sized chicken tractor so that they can roam happily, but not to the point when they can reach treasured plants or be in danger.
A sustainable approach
One benefit of the chicken tractor as compared to the chicken coop is that it is movable and that you do not need to build a floor for underneath your chickens. This also means that you do not have to exert more effort in maintaining the floors of the chicken house – like cleaning and mending or maintaining. The ground will be the floor and all their droppings will serve as fertilizer. This does not mean though that you can let their tractor stay rooted in just one place. While the area may provide enough entertainment for your chickens for a short while, there will come a time when you would need to move them to another area with fresh ground to peck and to let the original spot recover. The chicken scratchings will also uproot and kill off any grass they live on in a fairly short time, so moving the tractor regularly is the best approach.
Potential health benefits
According to research, chickens that are living in tractors may be able to thrive better than those who are in cages because they have enough access to the outside world and they are not being deprived of their daily needs. While those in cages may also have food and water, there are times when they will not be able to receive enough sunlight. There are also instances when they cannot move properly, if their cage isn’t large enough, which means that they will not be getting enough exercise. A chicken tractor is a great improvement on this.
More Benefits of Chicken Tractors
Other than the obvious benefits already described above, it has been said that chicken tractors will potentially allow hens to make their own nests or areas where they will choose to lay their eggs. But there are certainly advantages to have “manmade” nesting boxes available where hens can lay their eggs. This means that the layout can be designed so that you will be able to gather eggs more easily instead of trying to find the eggs in the various different places where your chickens might have hidden them. (Two guesses where the idea of the Egg Hunt fiasco we go through at Easter Time came from!)
Is it okay if your chickens are pets?
This is not at all unusual to find; there are people who are not just keeping chickens for their eggs, fertilizer or other reasons we won’t mention in their earshot. Plenty of people like to keep backyard chickens because they are simply just great pets – they are not that fussy, not hard to look after and aren’t too messy if your yard isn’t too perfectly manicured.
Once a chicken has come to the end of its egg-laying career, it seems only fair to let it live its life out in peace and health and happiness in it’s own home sweet home! Although some people that have never known the joys being a chicken owner will find it a bit weird, a sweet creature that demands little, appreciates all, takes up little space and gives what it can is a great thing to have around (wouldn’t you agree?).
Your backyard chickens will adapt happily to a chicken tractor or a chicken house equally well. It’s really only a question of what will best suit your needs to be able to live with them in your yard with minimum fuss and maximum practicality.
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Chicken Coop Ideas in Cape Porpoise, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Cape Porpoise 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 Cape Porpoise Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Cape Porpoise, Maine With the significant increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as huge increase in the array of fowl stuff for sale. Poultry housing is a case in factor. It's additionally a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous potential chicken housing specialists peddle a selection of cottage asserting to be the suitable remedy to your chicken real estate needs. Typically the rate looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Certainly they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many low-cost as well as awful cages flooding the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed container showed up. The result was just a costly stack of fire wood as well as a little flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Used in Cape Porpoise, Maine
Generally these standardized designs are created of quick grown up lumber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that won't close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking residents. The initial warm and comfortable day suggests the timber dries and splits, the felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once attractive residential property however because the hovel is now a haven for, and probably abounding, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 large chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a big room and also the pop hole doorway is big enough for the breed you maintain, then the major needs of housing come down to 3 points which will define the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly likewise naturally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) leading to stained eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and also these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. Your house must have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will develop every night, also in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of warm air leaving through a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of holes on contrary wall surfaces of your home and at the exact same degree, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still real, however you should likewise take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary range bird is (as well as let's encounter it, among the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is potentially enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at several of the deal residences - it could well be your house has the best perches, proper air flow as well as ample nest boxes for a sensible 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 obtain what you pay for". You might think you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house as well as it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer offered the proper treatment. In the end your fowl and your poultry keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the far better for it.plans diy
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