Chicken Coops for Sale in Owosso, Michigan
Chicken Coops for Sale in Owosso, Michigan
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 House Plans in Owosso, Michigan
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Owosso 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 Owosso Michigan chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Owosso, Michigan With the substantial boost in chicken keeping there has been an equally big rise in the range of chicken materiel for sale. Chicken real estate is a case in point. It's likewise a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various prospective fowl real estate professionals pitch a range of cottage claiming to be the optimal solution to your chicken real estate demands. Commonly the rate looks attractive, your house looks attractive, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several economical and also horrible coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail showed up. The result was nothing but a costly stack of firewood as well as a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Supplies in Owosso, Michigan
Usually these mass produced models are built of fast grown up timber - come the initial decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The initial cozy day indicates the wood dries out and splits, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decline of their once appealing apartment however since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, as well as most likely abounding, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would suit four big hens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you entrusted? A number of joints and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large space and the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, after that the major demands of housing come down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost at night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits easily on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) causing dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is certainly 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 neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house should have a the very least one nest box for each 3 birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house should have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every night, also in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of holes on opposite walls of the house and also at the very same degree, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still real, yet you need to additionally think about the run size. The EU maximum lawful stocking thickness for a cost-free array bird is (as well as let's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens at home is perhaps enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close check out several of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the best perches, correct air flow as well as enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you obtain what you spend for". You could believe you've got hold of a deal, however you and your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the best house as well as it will last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the proper therapy. Eventually your fowl and also your fowl keeping encounter will be much the far better for it.plan for sale
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