Chicken Coops for Sale in Nantucket, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Nantucket, Massachusetts
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 Free Plans in Nantucket, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Nantucket 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 Nantucket Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Nantucket, Massachusetts With the big rise in poultry keeping there has actually been a just as large surge in the variety of fowl stuff for sale. Poultry housing is a situation in factor. It's also a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various would-be chicken real estate professionals peddle a variety of cottage declaring to be the ideal remedy to your chicken housing demands. Commonly the cost looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, heck even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several economical and unpleasant coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've tested a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed container showed up. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood and a tiny group of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For Sale in Nantucket, Massachusetts
More often than not these standardized designs are built of rapid grown lumber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The first warm day means the timber dries as well as splits, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their when attractive home yet considering that the hovel is now a haven for, as well as probably abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 huge chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds need to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big area and the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you keep, then the major demands of housing boil down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise naturally search for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate one of the most poo) leading to stained eggs the following day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home must have a least one nest box for every three birds and these must be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. Your home ought to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every evening, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works with the concept of cozy air leaving via a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the very same degree, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, however you must likewise consider the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a free range bird is (and allow's face it, among the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in your home is perhaps boosted or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close take a look at a few of the bargain houses - it could well be your house has the right perches, proper air flow and enough nest boxes for a practical variety 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 claiming goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You could assume you've got a deal, but you and your group could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will last for a few years, otherwise longer provided the correct treatment. In the end your fowl and also your fowl maintaining experience will be much the better for it.build coop
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