Chicken Coops for Sale in Audubon, New Jersey
Chicken Coops for Sale in Audubon, New Jersey
Our Chicken Coop Design – Front Elevation (Part 2 of 3)
Okay, I lied. I had hoped to finish up writing on our chicken coop design with this post, but I ran out of time and markers…seriously – my gray marker ran out. So today I’m going to focus on the front elevation and next week I’ll wrap it up with the other 3 elevations.
Front Elevation of the Coop
When designing your coop you really need to think through ventilation for a number of reasons: respiratory health of the chickens; drying out the moisture and their manure keeps down the smells and the potential of the hens getting sick. I made ours super-ventilated by covering the entire front of our coop with hardware cloth. We may have gone overboard, but it’s better to err on the side of too much ventilation in a coop than too little…and because Atlanta has a fairly temperate climate, I think we’re good. That said, you do have to consider strong winds – particularly in the colder months. That’s why Britt and I crafted Roman shade-like curtains out of painter’s drop cloths for the front and the windows on the other 3 sides of the coop. It was quite inexpensive and fairly easy to do…particularly if you strategically use the hems already sewn in. These curtains will give our ladies a refuge from the cold winds – protecting the exposed areas of their bodies (combs, wattles, and feet).
Here are a few other things to note about the front elevation of our coop:
- Again, entire area is covered in hardware cloth. I could have used chicken wire on the top (bottom needs hardware cloth to keep out critters), but I had enough hardware cloth and I thought it looked better for the entire area to be consistent.
- The height of the walls are 6.5’…which is plenty high (for me at least) to be able to walk through the door…and there is plenty of height inside, since there is no ceiling (just the rafters and tin roof above).
- 24″ doors were constructed out of pressure-treated wood and painted the same color as the doors of our home.
- To clean things up a bit and to cover up where the pieces of hardware cloth met, I added 1″ trim on the outside of each 2×4 and painted it and the siding of the rest of the coop the same color gray as our house.
- We used gate latches as handles. If you do as well, make sure you make it so that you won’t get locked in when the doors close. To do that, I simply drilled a hole just above the latch and attached a long, thin chain that I threaded through the hole…allowing me to open the latch from inside. Don’t use string or twine…I found that out the hard way. String will wear out and break – leaving you stranded inside. Fortunately when it happened to me, one of my girls was within shouting distance.
- We were running out of hardware cloth when we were finishing the gable, so we simply filled in the middle space with a board and painted it gray. To make sense of this oddly proportioned space and to bring a little bit of character to the coop, I hung a set of antlers from a Mule Deer I shot several years ago with my dad in Wyoming.
So there’s the front elevation. We are really pleased with it…it’s done what we set out to do – make a more than livable space for our chickens (and bunny), while still being attractive. Now we may be a bit too particular, but I really think having an attractive coop in a nice setting has made raising chickens not only sustainable, but more enjoyable. So sure, you could build a coop that is purely functional, but if it looks like a hunk of junk, is that really something you want to see every day…sometimes several times? We thought not.
Next week I’ll wrap things up on our chicken coop design…but until then, please let me know if you have any other questions about our coop or raising chickens. I could perhaps work my answers into the next post.
Take care,
PS: Here are the links to and of Our Chicken Coop Design…and the link to .
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Chicken Coop Blueprints in Audubon, New Jersey
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Audubon New Jersey" 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 Audubon New Jersey chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Audubon, New Jersey With the huge boost in chicken maintaining there has been an equally large surge in the range of chicken stuff on sale. Fowl real estate is a situation in point. It's also a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as numerous prospective chicken housing specialists peddle a range of accommodation asserting to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Usually the cost looks appealing, your house looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are several affordable and nasty coops swamping the market. I recognize this as I've checked a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was only a costly heap of fire wood as well as a small flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For Sale in Audubon, New Jersey
Typically these standardized versions are built of quick grown timber - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that will not shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day means the wood dries out and cracks, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their once eye-catching home but due to the fact that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also most likely abounding, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would match four huge hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you left with? A number of hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are varying your birds in a huge space as well as the pop hole door is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the major needs of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise naturally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) bring about stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries can take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably the house must have a least one nest box for each three birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your home should have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every evening, even in the coldest of weather. Realize, ventilation works with the principle of cozy air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a set of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your home and also at the same degree, this is just what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, however you ought to also think about the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a totally free variety bird is (and allow's encounter it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some chickens at home is perhaps boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close check out some of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the best perches, proper ventilation and adequate nest boxes for a practical number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You may believe you've got a deal, however you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and also it will last for a few decades, otherwise longer offered the appropriate treatment. Ultimately your poultry as well as your poultry maintaining encounter will certainly be a lot the far better for it.plan coop
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