Chicken Coops for Sale in Glendale, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Glendale, Massachusetts
The Small Property Chicken Coop
Raising chickens has been one of the most rewarding activities that we’ve done on our homestead. While we don’t raise them for meat due to the city’s limitations, we reap an abundance of benefits from the eggs and the friendship we get from our girls.
In this next installment of , I’ll be sharing how my husband Todd designed and built Lucy and Ethel’s chicken coop using his ingenuity and minimal square footage on our .18 of an acre.
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, I was so excited to finally be able to raise a couple of my own “girls” to gather eggs from and get to know. I’m an animal lover, and seem to be able to make friends with any animal that will allow me, so I knew that these two sweet little chicks and I would be the best of friends. , and since there were only two of them, there was plenty of space for them to grow.
After moving some things around to set up our ‘barn’ area, Todd got to work on the chicken coop. Being a handy guy, he decided that he could design and build one that would be cheaper than a prefab one, as well as be able to fit where we needed it to on our small property homestead.
He chose to use the back of one of our sheds as the back wall, and another of our sheds as the side wall, which would save us some money on hardware cloth. He framed the rest of the coop and door with 2x4s. He also extended the side of the shed so that it would serve as the left wall of the coop.
This is the shed that is being used as the back wall of the coop. You can see on the right side of the shed where the new section was added for the left wall of the coop.
Todd designed the girls’ coop to be multi-level, rather than sprawling. He used plywood and 2x4s for the levels, and built an access ladder to both. The girls had a hard time not slipping on the sleek wood between the “steps” on the ladder, so I added a few strips of to those sections, which worked beautifully.
Here is a current photo of the two levels (please excuse the “lived in” look, I apparently hadn’t taken photos of the two levels when it was new). This is the top level, where we keep the girls’ nesting boxes. The ladder with the comes up the right side of this level, and it’s easy for the girls to hop up to the top of their nesting boxes, where they like to sleep at night. Todd also built a roost for them, which is actually a few inches offset from the edge of the level so when they poop, most of it falls to the ground.
Here is the second level, where the girls usually eat their evening treats, and where I keep their oyster shell and water (water not pictured). You can see how the ladder passes the second level up to the top level, which makes it easy for the girls to hop to the second level at snack time.
We left the bottom level as dirt, and I have been using the , which has worked out well for the most part. We haven’t had any issues with large rodents, and any mice that dare step foot into the coop are met with two hungry beaks.
Todd lined the front of the coop with 1″ hardware cloth and it has worked very well for us; however, I have heard that if you have issues with raccoons, it’s best to go with 1/2″ hardware cloth.
Another Space Saving Coop Idea
A friend of mine, Nora from , and is based on Todd’s multilevel chicken coop design. Their family has around 8-10 girls, so this brooder was a very good fit for them. It can definitely be built outdoors and used as a space-saving chicken coop for 1-3 chickens, or built indoors to use as a brooder for a larger flock.
As you can see, building a chicken coop to fit your small property needs can be a much better prospect than purchasing a prefab chicken coop. While prefab coops are beautiful and promise ease, tailoring your chicken coop to fit in just the right place on your small property can be more affordable, and in the long run, more convenient for your homestead setup. As long as your chicken coop meets , you can build a chicken coop that meets your homestead’s needed requirements as well, which will make everyone happy!
For more great information on raising chickens, please visit Fresh Eggs Daily’s Ultimate Chicken Care Guide.
What size is your property? Do you use space-saving techniques?
Chicken Coop Plans For 20 Chickens in Glendale, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Glendale Massachusetts" 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 Glendale Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Glendale, Massachusetts With the big boost in chicken maintaining there has been an equally huge rise in the array of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in point. It's likewise a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various potential fowl housing specialists peddle a selection of lodging asserting to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing needs. Usually the rate looks eye-catching, the house looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical and awful coops swamping the market. I understand this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was nothing but a costly heap of fire wood and a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Free Plans in Glendale, Massachusetts
Generally these standardized designs are constructed of quick grown up timber - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a door that will not shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The first warm and comfortable day implies the wood dries and splits, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their once desirable residential property yet due to the fact that the hovel is currently a haven for, and also probably abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a huge area and also the pop hole doorway allows sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the main requirements of real estate boil down to three factors which will certainly specify the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Most breeds of chicken will 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 should be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will 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 following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they must be more 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 ahead. Ideally your home should have a least one nest box for every single 3 birds as well as these should be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. Your house needs to have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation works on the concept of warm air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of the house as well as at the very same level, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still real, however you ought to likewise consider the run dimension. The EU optimum legal stocking thickness for a complimentary variety bird is (and let's encounter it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider several of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, appropriate ventilation and also sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get just what you pay for". You may assume you've got a deal, however you and your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the right therapy. In the long run your fowl and also your chicken maintaining experience will be a lot the far better for it.chicken build
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