Chicken Coops for Sale in Woodland, Michigan
Chicken Coops for Sale in Woodland, Michigan
Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1
Tropical Chicken Coop Construction – Ch.1
I have been helping our friends build a chicken coop so that they can start raising there own hens and producing their own eggs. The week before I helped them build a compost pile so that they could start composting their yard waist on a larger scale, now we move into coop development. After researching different designs and methods for building a coop I decided to go with one that would fit well in the tropics. Much like San Diego, you don’t have to worry about a freeze or the chickens getting to cold, however you do need to be concerned with other natural elements like predators, tropical rain storms, gusty winds and too much heat. Taking this into consideration I designed a coop that would protect the hens from the elements, yet be opened up enough to allow a breeze and shade for the hens to grow in.
Chicken Coop Design
Chicken Coop Plans
The structure of the coop is 4x8x8. It is 4 ft wide by 8ft long and 8ft high at its highest point. The floor of the hen house is three feet off of the ground. There is a thatched roof covering the length of the coop to keep out the rain and sun. The roofs highest point is at 8ft (in the center) dropping down to 6ft on the front side, and 7ft on the back side. This allows for a consistent air flow throughout the coop
Chicken Coop Plans (Side Views)
I designed the coop on paper, worked out the measurements and then we started putting it together after we picked up the supplies. As expected we made a few adjustments as we began to put the coop together to fit the surroundings a little better. One thing that I didn’t keep in mind was the slope that we would be working on, this eventually elevated the ‘run’ side a little more giving the hens an extra 6 inches to play around in.
Chicken Coop Supplies (So Far)
- 3 4×8′ 1/2″ pieces of plywood
- 20 2x4x8′ studs
- 12 2x2x8′ studs
- 1 6x2x8′ stud
- 2 4×8′ roofing sheets
- 1 4×50′ roll of chicken wire
- 1 box 3.5″ screws
- 1 box 2″ screws
- 6 hinges
- 3 latches
- 4 cinder blocks
Chicken Coop Structure
Putting up the Frame
After we picked a location by the mango tree, the first thing that we did was put together the frame. This would be our skeleton if you will, everything else would be built off of the frame. As mentioned before the frame of the structure is 4ft wide by 8ft long. We put 6ft posts on the front side, 7ft posts on the back side, and two 8ft posts on the ends (for the roof). Notice the cinder blocks used to give us a level playing field, not the prettiest look, this is something that we will fix up as we finish the project.
Chicken Coop Construction
Putting Up the Walls
After we got the frame up we started to work on the hen house itself, this is where then hens will go to lay their many eggs in the future. We closed off the floor and the back wall first because these are permanent, no doors or latches needed. In this picture you can see that we also added a few more frame pieces for the roof, this was because of the type of roofing that we decided to go with. You will be able to see why when we finish.
Hen House Layout
Building the Hen House
Once we put in the permanent walls and floor we began building the doors that would allow us access into the hen house for cleaning and feeding. This front door section will open up giving us plenty of room to work around the hen house.
Nesting Boxes
The Nesting Boxes
The Nesting Boxes came next on our plans. We decided to do two rows of boxes 4 boxes deep. This gives us a total of 8 nesting boxes. Each box is 12″x12″12″. We started the bottom row 6 inches off of the floor and the next row 12 inches above that. We left a 3″ over hang to give the hens something to climb up to before entering their boxes. We also put a 4.5 inch lip on the front of the boxes making the entrance to the boxes 7.5″x12″. We did this to give the hens more protection and less room to move around. This should prevent them or the other hens from eating their eggs once they began producing.
Entrance for Eggs
Behind the nesting boxes, on the outside of the hen house we installed two barn style doors to give us easy access to all of the boxes, thus giving us easy access to the eggs down the road. This will also make it easier for cleaning an maintenance when the time comes.
Hen House Entrance
Hen House Entrance
This last image is of the entrance into the hen house, this was the last thing that we finished up to this point. We still have the roof, chicken wire enclosure and last minute adjustments. As you can see the Tropical Chicken Coop is coming along just fine. We are almost there but not quite yet. Once we get some more time to work on it we should be able to wrap up this project and move the hens in. Eggs are on their way!
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Baby Chicken in Woodland, Michigan
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Woodland 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 Woodland Michigan chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Woodland, Michigan With the massive boost in poultry keeping there has actually been a just as large increase in the array of chicken materiel on sale. Fowl real estate is a situation in point. It's additionally a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as different potential fowl real estate professionals pitch a selection of holiday accommodation claiming to be the excellent remedy to your chicken housing requirements. Commonly the rate looks eye-catching, your house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Definitely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable and also horrible cages swamping the market. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was nothing but a pricey stack of fire wood and also a little flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Run in Woodland, Michigan
Generally these mass produced designs are created of fast grown wood - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The first cozy day indicates the timber dries and also cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their when appealing property yet since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and probably crawling with, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 huge chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A number of hinges and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large area as well as the pop opening door is big enough for the type you keep, then the main requirements of housing come down to 3 points which will define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly also naturally try to find the acme 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 create one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They should not however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries can take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house must have a the very least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of your home. Your house should have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, ventilation deals with the concept of cozy air leaving through a high void drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on opposite walls of your home as well as at the very same level, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still real, however you must additionally think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a totally free array bird is (as well as allow's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in the house is possibly enhanced or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m settled. Take a close look at some of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the best perches, proper ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for a reasonable 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 stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've grabbed a bargain, but you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house and also it will certainly last for a few years, otherwise longer offered the proper therapy. In the end your chicken and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be much the far better for it.chickens coops
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