Chicken Coops for Sale in Walpole, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Walpole, 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.
More from my site
Chicken Coop Accessories in Walpole, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Walpole 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 Walpole Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Walpole, Maine With the massive boost in poultry keeping there has been a just as big increase in the range of chicken materiel for sale. Fowl housing is an instance in point. It's likewise a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as various potential poultry housing professionals pitch a range of cottage declaring to be the suitable option to your chicken real estate needs. Typically the price looks appealing, your house looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap and also horrible cages swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was nothing but a pricey pile of fire wood and also a little group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Small in Walpole, Maine
Most of the time these standardized designs are built of quick grown lumber - come the first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The initial warm day suggests the wood dries and also cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as appealing building yet because the hovel is now a haven for, and most likely crawling with, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit 4 big hens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you entrusted? A number of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge room as well as the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, then the main requirements of housing boil down to 3 factors which will define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. The majority of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits easily on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also 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) resulting in stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small types this is undoubtedly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally the house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every three birds and also these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your home. Your house ought to have sufficient air flow: without it then condensation will accumulate every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Know, ventilation works on the concept of warm air leaving via a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of the house and at the same degree, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, however you need to additionally think about the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a totally free array bird is (and let's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens at home is possibly improved or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the deal residences - it could well be your home has the right perches, appropriate air flow and enough nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You might believe you've got a bargain, but you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and also it will last for a couple of years, otherwise longer given the right therapy. Eventually your fowl and your chicken maintaining encounter will be a lot the far better for it.chicken plan
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in South China, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Kenduskeag, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in North Bridgton, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Alfred, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in Bass Harbor, Maine