Chicken Coops for Sale in Lebanon, New Hampshire
Chicken Coops for Sale in Lebanon, New Hampshire
Chicken Tractors vs Chicken Coops
A lot of people do not seem to know this but are also chicken houses. The only real difference between the two is that chicken tractors can be moved from place to place and a chicken house is fixed in one place. You can have both if you have the means and the space in your yard, but either will do to house your chicken flock, provided they all fit with plenty of room to move. If you are not too familiar with raising chickens and keeping hens, it wouldn’t be any wonder if you didn’t immediately realise this difference.
A fixed chicken house or chicken coop
Planning ahead
But now knowing that there is a difference between the two, it will be easier for you to plan how you’re going to keep your chickens housed. Especially if you are planning to raise your very own chickens soon, but don’t actually have them yet, you have the chance to look around and see if you can pick up something pre-loved (second hand!) or even modify something to suit your yard space and the number and types of chickens that you’re planning to keep. A purpose built chicken house or chicken tractor will probably suit best, but other types of small to medium animal enclosures could work equally well. It’s all an individual choice, really.
Chicken tractor plans
If you have been searching for different types of chicken tractor plans online, you will have seen a great variety of chicken tractor designs. While most may look similar to each other, there will also be some that have been made with a great deal of creativity. Some of those designs are so pretty that people cannot help but buy them or have them made. Sometimes, people attempt to make chicken tractors themselves too. This may or may not be successful depending on how gifted the individual is in carpentry and handiwork…but, hey, if it keeps the chickens in and safe and dry and warm, and the predators out, does it really matter?
What Are Chicken Tractors For?
All round protection
Depending on how big the tractor is, the chickens are free to roam around the enclosed space with plenty of room to move. This really is beneficial especially if there are some things around your yard area that you would like to protect from your chickens. For instance, if you have some plants that will be destroyed if pecked by chickens, if you have garden mulch in your garden beds (the chickens will rearrange that for you…) or if you have neighbors who keep a vegetable patch and don’t take kindly to your chickens helping themselves.
Largely, though, the chicken tractor is to protect the chickens from the environment as well – they can get through holes in fences and potentially fall foul of dogs, and it’s not unusual for a neighborhood dog to run loose and have a bit of sport with an unsuspecting chicken. Chickens and traffic don’t mix and if you live in a fairly rural area, foxes love a bit of chicken for dinner. If any of these situations sound like you, you can always house your flock in a decent sized chicken tractor so that they can roam happily, but not to the point when they can reach treasured plants or be in danger.
A sustainable approach
One benefit of the chicken tractor as compared to the chicken coop is that it is movable and that you do not need to build a floor for underneath your chickens. This also means that you do not have to exert more effort in maintaining the floors of the chicken house – like cleaning and mending or maintaining. The ground will be the floor and all their droppings will serve as fertilizer. This does not mean though that you can let their tractor stay rooted in just one place. While the area may provide enough entertainment for your chickens for a short while, there will come a time when you would need to move them to another area with fresh ground to peck and to let the original spot recover. The chicken scratchings will also uproot and kill off any grass they live on in a fairly short time, so moving the tractor regularly is the best approach.
Potential health benefits
According to research, chickens that are living in tractors may be able to thrive better than those who are in cages because they have enough access to the outside world and they are not being deprived of their daily needs. While those in cages may also have food and water, there are times when they will not be able to receive enough sunlight. There are also instances when they cannot move properly, if their cage isn’t large enough, which means that they will not be getting enough exercise. A chicken tractor is a great improvement on this.
More Benefits of Chicken Tractors
Other than the obvious benefits already described above, it has been said that chicken tractors will potentially allow hens to make their own nests or areas where they will choose to lay their eggs. But there are certainly advantages to have “manmade” nesting boxes available where hens can lay their eggs. This means that the layout can be designed so that you will be able to gather eggs more easily instead of trying to find the eggs in the various different places where your chickens might have hidden them. (Two guesses where the idea of the Egg Hunt fiasco we go through at Easter Time came from!)
Is it okay if your chickens are pets?
This is not at all unusual to find; there are people who are not just keeping chickens for their eggs, fertilizer or other reasons we won’t mention in their earshot. Plenty of people like to keep backyard chickens because they are simply just great pets – they are not that fussy, not hard to look after and aren’t too messy if your yard isn’t too perfectly manicured.
Once a chicken has come to the end of its egg-laying career, it seems only fair to let it live its life out in peace and health and happiness in it’s own home sweet home! Although some people that have never known the joys being a chicken owner will find it a bit weird, a sweet creature that demands little, appreciates all, takes up little space and gives what it can is a great thing to have around (wouldn’t you agree?).
Your backyard chickens will adapt happily to a chicken tractor or a chicken house equally well. It’s really only a question of what will best suit your needs to be able to live with them in your yard with minimum fuss and maximum practicality.
More from my site
Baby Yellow Chick For Sale in Lebanon, New Hampshire
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Lebanon New Hampshire" 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 Lebanon New Hampshire chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Lebanon, New Hampshire With the huge rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a similarly large increase in the range of chicken paraphernalia on sale. Chicken housing is an instance in factor. It's also a traditional example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential chicken real estate experts peddle a selection of cottage claiming to be the excellent remedy to your chicken housing needs. Typically the rate looks desirable, your house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they recognize a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive and also unpleasant cages flooding the market. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The outcome was just a pricey stack of firewood as well as a little group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Pinterest in Lebanon, New Hampshire
Usually these mass produced designs are created of quick grown up timber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The first warm day implies the wood dries out and also cracks, the really felt roof bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their when appealing residential property yet because the hovel is now a haven for, and also most likely crawling with, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would suit 4 big hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A number of joints and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a big room and also the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you keep, after that the main requirements of housing boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create one of the most poo) leading to dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably the house ought to have a least one nest box for every three birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house must have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will develop every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Know, ventilation deals with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high gap attracting cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your home as well as at the exact same degree, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still true, however you ought to additionally consider the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a free range bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens in the house is perhaps enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close check out several of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, right ventilation and adequate nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get just what you spend for". You could believe you've got hold of a deal, but you and your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and it will last for a couple of years, if not longer given the appropriate treatment. In the end your poultry and your fowl keeping experience will certainly be much the much better for it.chicken diy
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Exeter, New Hampshire
Chicken Coops for Sale in Jaffrey, New Hampshire
Chicken Coops for Sale in Eaton Center, New Hampshire
Chicken Coops for Sale in Kingston, New Hampshire
Chicken Coops for Sale in Center Strafford, New Hampshire