Chicken Coops for Sale in Whiteside, Missouri
Chicken Coops for Sale in Whiteside, Missouri
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 Yellow Chick in Whiteside, Missouri
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Whiteside Missouri" 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 Whiteside Missouri chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Whiteside, Missouri With the substantial increase in chicken maintaining there has been an equally huge increase in the variety of poultry stuff on sale. Chicken housing is an instance in point. It's likewise a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different potential poultry housing experts pitch a variety of accommodation asserting to be the perfect solution to your chicken housing requirements. Typically the rate looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap as well as horrible cages swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was only a pricey heap of fire wood and also a small flock of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Materials List in Whiteside, Missouri
Usually these mass produced models are built of rapid grown timber - come the first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that won't close, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking occupants. The first cozy day implies the hardwood dries as well as splits, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their once appealing building yet considering that the hovel is currently a place for, as well as probably crawling with, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge room and also the pop opening doorway is big enough for the type you maintain, then the major needs of housing come down to 3 points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally naturally try to find the acme to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in the house they must be more 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 house needs to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house ought to have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the coldest of weather. Know, ventilation deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a set of holes on other wall surfaces of your home and at the same level, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the factors above are still real, yet you need to likewise think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a cost-free range bird is (as well as allow's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be the house has the best perches, right air flow and adequate nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, but 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 just what you pay for". You could think you've grabbed a bargain, but you and also your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer given the right treatment. In the end your fowl and also your chicken maintaining encounter will be considerably the better for it.coop build
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