Chicken Coops for Sale in Showell, Maryland
Chicken Coops for Sale in Showell, Maryland
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
Chicken Coop Large in Showell, Maryland
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Showell 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 Showell Maryland chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Showell, Maryland With the massive increase in poultry keeping there has been an equally big rise in the array of fowl stuff for sale. Chicken housing is a case in factor. It's additionally a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different prospective chicken housing professionals peddle an array of accommodation declaring to be the optimal option to your chicken housing demands. Often the cost looks attractive, the house looks eye-catching, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Definitely they recognize a professional chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable and also awful cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was just a costly stack of firewood and also a tiny group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Hut in Showell, Maryland
Most of the time these mass produced designs are built of fast grown up lumber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The initial warm and comfortable day suggests the timber dries as well as cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once attractive property but considering that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and also possibly abounding, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit four big hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a huge room as well as the pop hole doorway allows enough for the type you maintain, after that the primary requirements of real estate boil down to three points which will define the number of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entry as chickens will also naturally seek the highest point 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 produce one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house must 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 location of your house. Your house ought to have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will develop every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Know, ventilation works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on other wall surfaces of your home as well as at the same degree, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, yet you must also take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a free array bird is (as well as let's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens in the house 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 a few of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow and also sufficient nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You could believe you've grabbed a bargain, however you and your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the correct therapy. In the long run your chicken and your fowl maintaining encounter will certainly be considerably the better for it.coop for sale
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