Chicken Coops for Sale in Winston, Missouri
Chicken Coops for Sale in Winston, Missouri
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
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So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Chicken Coop Build in Winston, Missouri
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Winston 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 Winston Missouri chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Winston, Missouri With the substantial rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a similarly large rise in the array of fowl materiel on sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in point. It's additionally a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different prospective poultry housing professionals pitch a range of accommodation declaring to be the suitable solution to your chicken real estate needs. Typically the cost looks attractive, the house looks attractive, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable and horrible coops flooding the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was just a pricey stack of fire wood as well as a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Door in Winston, Missouri
Typically these mass produced versions are constructed of rapid grown timber - come the very first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that won't shut, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The very first warm and comfortable day means the hardwood dries out as well as fractures, the really felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once appealing residential property but due to the fact that the hovel is now a place for, as well as probably abounding, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit 4 large hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A few hinges and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a large space as well as the pop opening doorway is big enough for the breed you keep, after that the primary demands of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly likewise naturally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries might take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require about 20cm of perch each (in small types this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in the house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door 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 every 3 birds and also these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of the house. The house needs to have ample ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, even in the coldest of climate. Understand, ventilation works with the concept of cozy air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of your home and also at the very same level, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still true, yet you ought to additionally take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a free range bird is (and let's encounter it, among the motivations for keeping some hens at home is possibly boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close consider a few of the deal homes - it could well be the house has the best perches, proper air flow and also enough nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You may assume you've got a bargain, yet you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the appropriate treatment. In the end your chicken and also your poultry keeping experience will certainly be a lot the far better for it.coop diy
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