Chicken Coops for Sale in Southport, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Southport, Maine
Chicken coops for beginners – a primer!
Your chickens will need a safe dry and well ventilated place to roost at night or to be in bad weather. So here is a chicken coops for beginners primer!
Just cute chicks!
Chicken coops for beginners – things to consider!
We have had a variety of coops since we first started with chickens. We have had old wooden crates converted to a basic house through to our latest construction. We have learned much from each design and have tried to build a better coop for both the chickens and us each time we have had to reconstruct. The only reoccurring theme is that we have tried to use as many recycled items as we could….more to save costs than any other noble reason.
To get some inspiration, have a look at .
The chickens in the new coop
Here are the things that we now consider when we are designing our coops.
Safe Is the coop secure from other animals trying to get in? Here in the NE of the USA we worry about foxes, coyotes, raccoons etc. So it needs to be a design that can’t be broken into, ripped open, lifted up or turned over. In Australia I would be also trying to keep out snakes. Out coop lets in a chipmunk and a squirrel – they get a free feed but don’t do any other damage.
Airy Even in our cold climate, we have a well ventilated coop. Chickens seem to cope extremely well in the cold (ours did great in three months of very bitter winter when it did not get above freezing). So they don’t need a coop that is centrally heated. So good ventilation without being breezy on the birds is perfect.
Chickens on ice!
You don’t need it be be insulated and have central heating. On the really cold days and nights when the thermometer reading was way below freezing we run a red heating lamp to provide a little comfort.
Dry Damp chickens are not happy chickens…and will probably end up as sick chickens. Your coop needs to always be dry. So it has to be up off the ground, a roof to stop rain and/or snow dripping in and a way to open it up in case it does get damp inside. We have stopped providing drinking water in our coop unless its winter (with a water warmer) because the chickens just made a wet mess!
Roosting poles
Chickens need to be able to roost on a perch to sleep, just like all birds do at night (ok …emus don’t). Your chickens needs to have an old broom handle, tree branch or other item to settle on inside the coop. We have four feet of old curtain rod and all six adult birds are very happy. When we get more chickens (the coop could take another dozen) we will install more perches.The new coop’s roosting pole.
Nesting boxes Your girls will appreciate a place to lay their eggs. Some people like to build nesting boxes inside the coop. We found that having nesting boxes that have easy access for humans to collect eggs are great, however our free ranging girls like to lay in a spot in our barn rather than the nesting boxes. Inside our coop the nesting boxes are cut down plastic buckets and these are only used if we are late in letting them out and one girl just can’t wait.
The plastic nesting boxes
Easy to clean We use the deep litter method – which is just code for laying a deep pile of old hay onto the floor of the coop. We clean it out every few months and find that it works great. On past coops it was quite a chore to get into the coop and clean it. With our current design we made a flap on one wall so we have great access for cleaning. We also made the coop tall and added two cut down doors so we can get inside both from the outside and from inside the barn in winter.
Front of the coop – see the lower flap we can open to clean it out – now its a 5 min job!
Chicken coops for beginners – why do it!
Building the coop can be a great family affair. We collected materials from our dump for a few months and then built the structure as a lean-to off the barn. That way we could have a door to the inside of the barn so during winter the chickens could use the barn to roam around if they did not want to venture out into the snow. We also have a door on the outside of the coop and a window on the south side – so it gets loads of light and is easy to clean and air out.
The coop framed up
Coop finished
So far this chicken coop has been perfect! Easy for us to get into. Easy to clean. But most of all, the chickens seem happy to call it home! Using recycled materials has kept our costs low as well!
Jen and Madie ‘fancy up’ the coop with paint.
We hope this chicken coops for beginners primer will help you have happier and safer chickens!
Baby Chick Hatcheries in Southport, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Southport 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 Southport Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Southport, Maine With the significant increase in chicken keeping there has actually been an equally large increase in the range of poultry materiel for sale. Fowl housing is a case in factor. It's additionally a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different would-be fowl housing specialists market a variety of holiday accommodation asserting to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing demands. Typically the rate looks desirable, the house looks eye-catching, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap and also unpleasant coops swamping the market. I understand this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was just a costly stack of firewood and a tiny group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Hut in Southport, Maine
Most of the time these standardized versions are constructed of fast grown lumber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not close, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The first warm and comfortable day suggests the timber dries out as well as splits, the really felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their as soon as appealing building but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and possibly crawling with, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 big chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge space and the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, after that the major demands of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will specify the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm wide 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 normally look for the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they generate one of the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. The house should have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a set of holes on other walls of your house as well as at the same degree, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, however you ought to additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping density for a complimentary array bird is (as well as let's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens in your home is possibly boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close consider several of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the best perches, appropriate air flow and also adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get just what you spend for". You could assume you've got a bargain, but you and also your group might rue the day you did. Purchase the best house as well as it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer provided the right treatment. Ultimately your chicken as well as your poultry maintaining encounter will certainly be a lot the better for it.chickens diy
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