Chicken Coops for Sale in Woronoco, Massachusetts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Woronoco, 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?
Baby Chick House in Woronoco, Massachusetts
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Woronoco 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 Woronoco Massachusetts chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Woronoco, Massachusetts With the massive rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as huge surge in the range of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in point. It's likewise a classic instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective fowl housing professionals peddle a selection of accommodation claiming to be the ideal option to your chicken real estate requirements. Commonly the rate looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap and unpleasant coops flooding the market. I understand this as I've tested a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was only a costly stack of firewood as well as a little flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Baby Yellow Chick For Sale in Woronoco, Massachusetts
Usually these standardized designs are built of quick grown lumber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The first warm day indicates the lumber dries out as well as fractures, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching property however because the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, as well as possibly crawling with, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would fit four huge hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you entrusted? A number of hinges and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge space and also the pop opening door allows enough for the breed you keep, after that the main needs of real estate boil down to three points which will certainly define the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off edges so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) leading to stained eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries can take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every three birds as well as these need to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. The house needs to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on contrary wall surfaces of the house as well as at the exact same degree, this is just what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still true, but you should additionally think about the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a totally free variety bird is (and allow's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens in the house is perhaps boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider a few of the bargain homes - it could well be your house has the right perches, right ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable variety 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 obtain what you pay for". You could think you've grabbed a bargain, yet you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the best house and it will last for a few years, if not longer provided the right therapy. Eventually your chicken and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the far better for it.diy chick
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