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Chicken Coops for Sale in Silver Spring, Maryland

Chicken Coops for Sale in Silver Spring, Maryland

Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1

Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1

January 9, 2011 by in , , with

I have been helping our friends build a chicken coop so that they can start raising there own hens and producing their own eggs. The week before I helped them build a compost pile so that they could start composting their yard waist on a larger scale, now we move into coop development. After researching different designs and methods for building a coop I decided to go with one that would fit well in the tropics. Much like San Diego, you don’t have to worry about  a freeze or the chickens getting to cold, however you do need to be concerned with other natural elements like predators, tropical rain storms, gusty winds and too much heat. Taking this into consideration  I designed a coop that would protect the hens from the elements, yet be opened up enough to allow a breeze and shade for the hens to grow in.

Chicken Coop Design

Chicken Coop Plans

The structure of the coop is 4x8x8. It is 4 ft wide by 8ft long and 8ft high at its highest point. The floor of the hen house is three feet off of the ground. There is a thatched roof covering the length of the coop to keep out the rain and sun. The roofs highest point is at 8ft (in the center) dropping down to 6ft on the front side, and 7ft  on the back side. This allows for a consistent air flow throughout the coop

Chicken Coop Plans (Side Views)

I designed the coop on paper, worked out the measurements and then we started putting it together after we picked up the supplies. As expected we made a few adjustments as we began to put the coop together to fit the surroundings a little better. One thing that I didn’t keep in mind was the slope that we would be working on, this eventually elevated the ‘run’ side a little more giving the hens an extra 6 inches to play around in.

Chicken Coop Supplies (So Far)

  • 3  4×8′ 1/2″ pieces of plywood
  • 20  2x4x8′ studs
  • 12 2x2x8′ studs
  • 1 6x2x8′ stud
  • 2 4×8′ roofing sheets
  • 1 4×50′ roll of chicken wire
  • 1 box 3.5″ screws
  • 1 box 2″ screws
  • 6 hinges
  • 3 latches
  • 4 cinder blocks

Chicken Coop Structure

Putting up the Frame

After we picked a location by the mango tree, the first thing that we did was put together the frame. This would be our skeleton if you will, everything else would be built off of the frame. As mentioned before the frame of the structure is 4ft wide by 8ft long. We put 6ft posts on the front side, 7ft posts on the back side, and two 8ft posts on the ends (for the roof). Notice the cinder blocks used to give us a level playing field, not the prettiest look, this is something that we will fix up as we finish the project.

Chicken Coop Construction

Putting Up the Walls

After we got the frame up we started to work on the hen house itself, this is where then hens will go to lay their many eggs in the future. We closed off the floor and the back wall first because these are permanent, no doors or latches needed. In this picture you can see that we also added a few more frame pieces for the roof, this was because of the type of roofing that we decided to go with. You will be able to see why when we finish.

Hen House Layout

Building the Hen House

Once we put in the permanent walls and floor we began building the doors that would allow us access into the hen house for cleaning and feeding. This front door section will open up giving us plenty of room to work around the hen house.

Nesting Boxes

The Nesting Boxes

The Nesting Boxes came next on our plans. We decided to do two rows of boxes 4 boxes deep. This gives us a total of 8 nesting boxes. Each box is 12″x12″12″. We started the bottom row 6 inches off of the floor and the next row 12 inches above that. We left a 3″ over hang to give the hens something to climb up to before entering their boxes. We also put a 4.5 inch lip on the front of the boxes making the entrance to the boxes 7.5″x12″. We did this to give the hens more protection and less room to move around. This should prevent them or the other hens from eating their eggs once they began producing.

Entrance for Eggs

Behind the nesting boxes, on the outside of the hen house we installed two barn style doors to give us easy access to all of the boxes, thus giving us easy access to the eggs down the road. This will also make it easier for cleaning an maintenance when the time comes.

Hen House Entrance

Hen House Entrance

This last image is of the entrance into the hen house, this was the last thing that we finished up to this point. We still have the roof, chicken wire enclosure and last minute adjustments. As you can see the Tropical Chicken Coop is coming along just fine. We are almost there but not quite yet. Once we get some more time to work on it we should be able to wrap up this project and move the hens in. Eggs are on their way!

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Chicken coops for sale in Silver Spring Maryland can be found in agricultural newspapers and community newspapers. The coops are designed for housing for chickens in a safe and secure environment. They generally consist of a small building or large box that is then sectioned off to smaller boxes where the chickens go to roost (or sleep). Chicken coops are a must for raising chickens. Silver Spring Maryland chicken coops are commonly constructed from wood products. They are not very stable buildings and provide only minimal protection from the elements. Now chicken houses used for large production facilities are a entirely different structure, they are huge and can hold up to 10000 chickens. The coops are typically used for backyard operations, or small family farms. They vary in size depending on the number of residents they house. chicken-coops-in-Silver Spring-MDFinding chicken coops for sale in Silver Spring Maryland is probably not one of the easiest of items to find. There are manufacturers of chicken houses and coops that sell them out right and Silver Spring Maryland farm supply stores that they can also be purchased through, but generally speaking it will take some effort to find a chicken coop for sale in Silver Spring Maryland, especially if your location is not a typically rural location. In rural locations that are much more abundant and easily had. Chicken Coops for sale in Silver Spring MD

Baby Chick Incubator in Silver Spring, Maryland

A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Silver Spring 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 Silver Spring Maryland chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Silver Spring, Maryland With the massive rise in poultry keeping there has actually been a similarly big surge in the array of poultry paraphernalia on sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's additionally a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous would-be chicken real estate experts peddle a range of holiday accommodation claiming to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Frequently the cost looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive and horrible cages swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was only a pricey heap of firewood and a tiny group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams. Chickens for sale in Silver Spring MD

Chicken Coop Pictures in Silver Spring, Maryland

Generally these mass produced versions are constructed of fast grown up wood - come the very first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The very first cozy day suggests the lumber dries and also cracks, the felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching home but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, as well as most likely crawling with, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit four huge hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a big area and also the pop opening door is big enough for the breed you keep, after that the major demands of housing come down to 3 factors which will certainly define the number of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. The majority of types of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will also normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries can occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your home they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. Your home must have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will develop every night, even in the chilliest of weather. Know, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of your home as well as at the exact same level, this is what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still true, but you should additionally consider the run size. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a free range bird is (and also allow's face it, among the inspirations for maintaining some chickens at home is possibly boosted or much better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close consider some of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the right perches, correct air flow as well as ample nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You might think you've got a deal, yet you and also your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the appropriate treatment. In the end your poultry as well as your fowl maintaining experience will be much the far better for it.
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