Chicken Coops for Sale in Medford, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Medford, Massachusetts
building our homestead | the chicken coop.
When Justin and I had been , he took me to his family’s farm for Thanksgiving. I was already nervous as it was – he was a new boyfriend and I was meeting his family – but by the end of the weekend they’d coerced convinced me to drive a skid loader, fire off a few rounds at some coffee cans, and forage for my own breakfast in the chicken coop. When we came back the next spring, there were a handful of baby chicks fluttering around the yard and I thought they were so precious. Uncle Bill handed me one, nearly weightless in my palm, all its hollow bones twitching against my fingers. It made me nervous, how fragile it felt and how anxious it seemed to get back to its Mama Bird.
But the eggs? The eggs I loved. I loved the plastic Easter egg sitting inside the nesting box (to encourage the ladies to lay there); I loved the varying shades of brown, the speckled pattern and the occasional pastel green egg that appeared. They made the white grocery store eggs look so bland, so boring. And when we brought the eggs inside to fry up alongside our buttered toast, their yolks were electric orange. I’d never seen anything like it before (they grow pumpkins on the farm and feed the chickens with the broken pieces, thus the late-autumn yolks are especially colorful). I slid two over-easy’s onto my plate and split them open with the prong of my fork and watched the yolk puddle out to my toast. I think about that breakfast a lot, about the smell of the barn early in the morning; how Justin and I were living outside our comfort zones and learning to love each other; how he casually mentioned that, one day, we might have a farm.
We don’t have a full-blown farm, not by a long shot, but after trying to and finally accepting this is where we’ll stay, we decided to start building our backyard homestead. Justin bought the blueprints for a chicken coop and set to work in our garage over the winter. We poured the concrete footers together before Christmas, before the frost would come, and Justin etched our initials into the last one while it was still wet. He spent hours under the fluorescent lights of the garage bay, hammering and nailing and sometimes painting. And finally, after months of work, we hauled it outside with a trailer and some extra manpower.
Most of the books we read said chickens were low-maintenance, that they don’t need much besides a cardboard box and some fresh water. But my husband, God love him, is an overachiever. So our chickens will have the Ritz Carlton of chicken coops to call home. And this coming weekend, our chicks will arrive! We have nine in total – three each of Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Red, and Ameraucanas (Easter Eggers). They’ll live in a brooder box in our garage for the first few weeks to stay toasty warm, and by the end of May or June we’ll move them out to the luxury hotel we call a chicken coop. It isn’t quite finished, we still need to add shingles and chicken wire all around, but I’m so proud of it. I’m proud of what we’re doing, how we live, how we eat, how we teach our kids about food and about life.
So cheers to the homestead! We’re finally doing it.
***
First few photos are iPhone.
Resources:
Chicken Coop For 10 Chickens in Medford, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Medford 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 Medford Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Medford, Massachusetts With the significant boost in chicken maintaining there has actually been a similarly large increase in the variety of chicken stuff for sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's likewise a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various potential poultry real estate experts peddle a range of cottage declaring to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Often the cost looks eye-catching, your house looks attractive, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many low-cost as well as horrible cages swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was only a costly heap of fire wood and also a tiny flock of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For 6 Chickens in Medford, Massachusetts
More often than not these standardized models are constructed of rapid grown wood - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't close, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking citizens. The initial warm day suggests the hardwood dries out as well as cracks, the really felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their once appealing residential property but because the hovel is currently a haven for, and possibly crawling with, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 large chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A few joints as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge space and also the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the primary demands of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Most breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also naturally search for the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your house they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. Your home must have appropriate ventilation: without it then condensation will accumulate every night, also in the coldest of climate. Be aware, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the very same level, this is just what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, but you must also think about the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping density for a totally free range bird is (and let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in the house is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close check out a few of the bargain residences - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, proper air flow and ample nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You may assume you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your flock might rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer offered the correct treatment. Eventually your fowl and your fowl keeping encounter will be much the better for it.chicken plans
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