Chicken Coops for Sale in Norway, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Norway, Maine
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
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So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Baby Chickens For Sale in Norway, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Norway 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 Norway Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Norway, Maine With the huge boost in chicken maintaining there has been an equally huge increase in the variety of fowl materiel for sale. Fowl real estate is a case in factor. It's additionally a classic instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be fowl real estate professionals market a selection of lodging claiming to be the optimal option to your chicken housing needs. Commonly the cost looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical as well as unpleasant cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed container showed up. The outcome was just an expensive stack of fire wood and a tiny group of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Baby Yellow Chick For Sale in Norway, Maine
Usually these mass produced models are created of fast grown lumber - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't close, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The first cozy day suggests the wood dries out and fractures, the felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their once desirable property however considering that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also possibly crawling with, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit four huge chickens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big area and also the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the main requirements of housing boil down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be above the nest box entrance as chickens will likewise normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed 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. Ideally the house should have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these ought to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house needs to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every night, even in the chilliest of weather. Understand, ventilation deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of the house and also at the exact same degree, this is just what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, but you need to additionally think about the run size. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a cost-free range bird is (as well as let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in the house is possibly improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at a few of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, right ventilation and also enough nest boxes for an affordable 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 obtain exactly what you spend for". You could assume you've grabbed a deal, yet you as well as your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the appropriate treatment. Eventually your chicken and your chicken maintaining experience will be considerably the far better for it.chick coop
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