Chicken Coops for Sale in Curtis Bay, Maryland
Chicken Coops for Sale in Curtis Bay, Maryland
Chicken Coops — The Top 5 Requirements
Chicken Coops – What You Need
Happy, healthy chickens need proper housing, but knowing what you need may seem daunting. Don’t let choosing the house for your chickens intimidate you. Meeting the needs of your flock, whether building your own chicken castle or buying ready-made, is easy and should provide for four basic needs.
- Protection from the elements
- Protection from predators
- Place for laying eggs
- A roost at night
The Components of a Chicken Coop
As I wrote in my , chickens have an innate homing instinct, keeping your flock close to home. Our feathered kids are such home bodies that even free ranging, every night before sundown all our chickens are perched in the coop. I always recommend a protected place for your flock to come home and roost for the night, even when free ranging.
You don’t need a poultry castle for your chickens to come home to. come in many shapes, sizes, and designs, from fancy to plain. Believe it or not, your chickens won’t care what the coop looks like as long as it provides the above four basic needs.
With that said, before deciding what type of coop you are going to buy or build, you must determine what coop features are needed that most closely conform to a chicken’s natural behavior. Hopefully I can help you understand what you need in the design of your chicken coop.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. All chicken coops need 3 things; a roof, 4 walls, and a doorway for entering and leaving. The design and the materials used for the chicken coop is up to you. As long as it is mostly draft free (you still need healthy ventilation), your choices are endless.
Your coop space is based on the number of chickens you plan to house. A good rule of thumb is 4 square feet of floor space per large chicken and 3 square feet for the smaller bantam breeds. Also consider the ease of cleaning when choosing your coop design; you’ll be glad you did.
Security
Making a chicken coop predator free is the most important part of building a home for your flock. Your coop must be secure from the top, bottom, and all sides. When looking at any pre-made coop or chicken coop building plans, consider all angles for security. Not only should you consider the security of the coop itself, but the security of the yard and run as well.
When choosing the wire for your run and coop, we advise steering clear of standard chicken wire. While it works well for keeping your chickens contained it’s not entirely predator proof. Because the holes in standard chicken wire are large, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes can still reach through the mesh, causing harm to your chickens. Always use a small hole wire like hardware cloth with ½ inch openings.
Another consideration when building the chicken yard or run, is airborne predators like hawks. You must include covering the top of the run as well. Our chicken runs use the same size mesh fencing on the top as the sides.
Finally, there are predators from below, such as rats and mice. These critters are attracted to the feed and droppings and like to burrow under your coop. Protect your chickens by using a coop with a floor built into it or burying small mesh fencing below the coop and extending it about 12 inches out on all sides.
The Outside Run
All coops need a connecting chicken run or pen. Chickens need access to the outside to do all those “chicken things”, like dirt baths, catching bugs, scratching dirt, or just relaxing in the sunshine or shade.
Ideally, your chicken run should have 10 square feet of ground space per full size chicken. The smaller bantam breeds require less, about 7 square feet per chicken. If your chickens free range the majority of the day, you can get by with less space.
Laying Boxes
If you want eggs, you need laying boxes. These can be as fancy or as plain as you like, just as long as they are about 12” x 12” and raised off the ground a few inches. You need one box for every 4 laying hens. Boxes should comfortably fit the chicken and have low enough sides for the hens to step over. Be sure to keep your boxes lined with clean straw or other bedding.
Roosting Perches
All birds roost, including chickens. Your coop needs a roosting bar or something off the ground on which your chickens can perch. We strongly suggest having perches both inside the coop and outside in the run area.
When figuring roosting pole size, provide 5-10” of space per chicken and 10” of space between each pole if you are using more than one. Multiple poles also need grading like ladders so the farthest pole is several inches higher than the next.
There are many shapes, sizes, and styles of chicken coops to choose from. Making the right choice for your needs is important, and all coops need to contain all necessary elements.
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Chicken Coop Amazon in Curtis Bay, Maryland
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Curtis Bay Maryland" 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 Curtis Bay Maryland chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Curtis Bay, Maryland With the big rise in poultry keeping there has been an equally big surge in the variety of fowl paraphernalia on sale. Chicken housing is an instance in point. It's additionally a traditional example of the good old bandwagon being got on as different potential fowl housing professionals market a range of cottage asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken housing demands. Typically the cost looks attractive, the house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Definitely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many inexpensive and nasty coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was nothing but a costly heap of fire wood and also a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Materials List in Curtis Bay, Maryland
Most of the time these standardized designs are created of rapid grown up hardwood - come the initial drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm day indicates the hardwood dries out and also splits, the really felt roof covering bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching home yet since the hovel is now a haven for, as well as most likely abounding, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would suit four large chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large room as well as the pop hole door is big enough for the breed you keep, then the primary demands of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be above the nest box access as chickens will also naturally 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 incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries can take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably the house needs to have a least one nest box for every three birds as well as these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. Your home ought to have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will accumulate every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Realize, ventilation deals with the concept of warm air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on other wall surfaces of the house and also at the same level, this is just what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, however you should also take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a complimentary array bird is (as well as let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is possibly boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m squared. Take a close check out several of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the right perches, right ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain what you spend for". You might think you've got hold of a bargain, but you and also your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and also it will last for a few decades, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Eventually your poultry and your poultry maintaining experience will be much the much better for it.build coops
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