Chicken Coops for Sale in Mesilla Park, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Mesilla Park, New Mexico
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 Chicken in Mesilla Park, New Mexico
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Mesilla Park New Mexico" 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 Mesilla Park New Mexico chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Mesilla Park, New Mexico With the massive rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as large rise in the variety of chicken paraphernalia on sale. Poultry housing is a case in point. It's additionally a traditional example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various prospective fowl housing experts peddle a selection of cottage claiming to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Commonly the rate looks eye-catching, your house looks eye-catching, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical and unpleasant cages flooding the market. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed container showed up. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood and also a tiny flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Setup in Mesilla Park, New Mexico
More often than not these standardized designs are built of rapid grown timber - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that won't close, or tearing the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The first warm and comfortable day suggests the lumber dries and also splits, the really felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their when eye-catching residential property yet due to the fact that the hovel is currently a place for, as well as probably crawling with, the chicken keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit four big chickens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you entrusted? A few joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big room as well as the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the breed you maintain, then the major requirements of real estate come down to three factors which will specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. The majority of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch must be more than the nest box access as chickens will likewise naturally look 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) leading to dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your home they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house ought to have a least one nest box for every single 3 birds as well as these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your house should have appropriate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the chilliest of climate. Realize, air flow works on the principle of warm air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of holes on opposite walls of the house and at the same level, this is what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the factors above are still real, but you ought to likewise think about the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a free array bird is (and let's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m squared. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, proper air flow and also adequate nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more 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 might assume you've got a bargain, yet you and also your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer offered the proper treatment. Ultimately your chicken and also your chicken keeping encounter will be considerably the far better for it.chicken plan
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