Chicken Coops for Sale in Mason, Michigan
Chicken Coops for Sale in Mason, Michigan
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 Supplies in Mason, Michigan
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Mason Michigan" 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 Mason Michigan chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Mason, Michigan With the huge rise in chicken keeping there has been a just as large increase in the array of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is a case in point. It's additionally a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various prospective poultry housing specialists peddle a variety of holiday accommodation declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the rate looks appealing, the house looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they recognize a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost as well as horrible coops swamping the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was just a pricey heap of fire wood as well as a little flock of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Plans Pdf in Mason, Michigan
Typically these standardized designs are constructed of quick grown up hardwood - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't close, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm day implies the lumber dries out as well as fractures, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their when attractive building yet due to the fact that the hovel is currently a haven for, and also probably abounding, the fowl caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 huge hens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you left with? A number of hinges and some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a huge area and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the primary demands of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will certainly define the number of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also normally look for the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) resulting in stained eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house must have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and also these must be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. Your home should have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will develop every evening, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, ventilation deals with the concept of warm air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on other walls of your house and also at the very same level, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, however you need to additionally think about the run size. The EU optimum legal stocking density for a complimentary variety bird is (and allow's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens at home is possibly boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close consider a few of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the best perches, proper ventilation and ample nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get just what you spend for". You might believe you've got a bargain, but you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer offered the right treatment. In the long run your chicken as well as your fowl keeping experience will be a lot the much better for it.plans coop
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