Chicken Coops for Sale in Thomas, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Thomas, New Mexico
Chicken Coops — The Top 5 Requirements
Chicken Coops – What You Need
Happy, healthy chickens need proper housing, but knowing what you need may seem daunting. Don’t let choosing the house for your chickens intimidate you. Meeting the needs of your flock, whether building your own chicken castle or buying ready-made, is easy and should provide for four basic needs.
- Protection from the elements
- Protection from predators
- Place for laying eggs
- A roost at night
The Components of a Chicken Coop
As I wrote in my , chickens have an innate homing instinct, keeping your flock close to home. Our feathered kids are such home bodies that even free ranging, every night before sundown all our chickens are perched in the coop. I always recommend a protected place for your flock to come home and roost for the night, even when free ranging.
You don’t need a poultry castle for your chickens to come home to. come in many shapes, sizes, and designs, from fancy to plain. Believe it or not, your chickens won’t care what the coop looks like as long as it provides the above four basic needs.
With that said, before deciding what type of coop you are going to buy or build, you must determine what coop features are needed that most closely conform to a chicken’s natural behavior. Hopefully I can help you understand what you need in the design of your chicken coop.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. All chicken coops need 3 things; a roof, 4 walls, and a doorway for entering and leaving. The design and the materials used for the chicken coop is up to you. As long as it is mostly draft free (you still need healthy ventilation), your choices are endless.
Your coop space is based on the number of chickens you plan to house. A good rule of thumb is 4 square feet of floor space per large chicken and 3 square feet for the smaller bantam breeds. Also consider the ease of cleaning when choosing your coop design; you’ll be glad you did.
Security
Making a chicken coop predator free is the most important part of building a home for your flock. Your coop must be secure from the top, bottom, and all sides. When looking at any pre-made coop or chicken coop building plans, consider all angles for security. Not only should you consider the security of the coop itself, but the security of the yard and run as well.
When choosing the wire for your run and coop, we advise steering clear of standard chicken wire. While it works well for keeping your chickens contained it’s not entirely predator proof. Because the holes in standard chicken wire are large, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes can still reach through the mesh, causing harm to your chickens. Always use a small hole wire like hardware cloth with ½ inch openings.
Another consideration when building the chicken yard or run, is airborne predators like hawks. You must include covering the top of the run as well. Our chicken runs use the same size mesh fencing on the top as the sides.
Finally, there are predators from below, such as rats and mice. These critters are attracted to the feed and droppings and like to burrow under your coop. Protect your chickens by using a coop with a floor built into it or burying small mesh fencing below the coop and extending it about 12 inches out on all sides.
The Outside Run
All coops need a connecting chicken run or pen. Chickens need access to the outside to do all those “chicken things”, like dirt baths, catching bugs, scratching dirt, or just relaxing in the sunshine or shade.
Ideally, your chicken run should have 10 square feet of ground space per full size chicken. The smaller bantam breeds require less, about 7 square feet per chicken. If your chickens free range the majority of the day, you can get by with less space.
Laying Boxes
If you want eggs, you need laying boxes. These can be as fancy or as plain as you like, just as long as they are about 12” x 12” and raised off the ground a few inches. You need one box for every 4 laying hens. Boxes should comfortably fit the chicken and have low enough sides for the hens to step over. Be sure to keep your boxes lined with clean straw or other bedding.
Roosting Perches
All birds roost, including chickens. Your coop needs a roosting bar or something off the ground on which your chickens can perch. We strongly suggest having perches both inside the coop and outside in the run area.
When figuring roosting pole size, provide 5-10” of space per chicken and 10” of space between each pole if you are using more than one. Multiple poles also need grading like ladders so the farthest pole is several inches higher than the next.
There are many shapes, sizes, and styles of chicken coops to choose from. Making the right choice for your needs is important, and all coops need to contain all necessary elements.
Share this:
Like this:
Chicken Coop Easy To Clean in Thomas, New Mexico
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Thomas 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 Thomas New Mexico chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Thomas, New Mexico With the significant boost in poultry keeping there has been a similarly huge rise in the range of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Fowl real estate is a situation in factor. It's additionally a timeless example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective fowl housing experts peddle a selection of accommodation asserting to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate demands. Typically the cost looks eye-catching, your house looks desirable, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several economical and also awful coops flooding the marketplace. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was nothing but a costly pile of firewood and also a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chicks Hatching in Thomas, New Mexico
Generally these standardized models are constructed of fast grown up wood - come the first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The initial warm and comfortable day indicates the wood dries out and cracks, the really felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching property yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a place for, and possibly crawling with, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would fit four huge chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are varying your birds in a large space and also the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you keep, then the main requirements of housing come down to three factors which will certainly specify the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Many types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot rests easily on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box access as chickens will also naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries can happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they must 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. Ideally your house ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. Your home must have adequate air flow: without it after that condensation will accumulate every night, even in the chilliest of weather. Know, air flow works on the concept of warm air leaving through a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on contrary walls of your house and at the very same level, this is exactly what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, however you ought to likewise consider the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a totally free range bird is (and let's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is perhaps improved or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close consider several of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, appropriate air flow as well as 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 spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get what you spend for". You may believe you've got hold of a deal, but you as well as your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house as well as it will last for a few years, otherwise longer given the appropriate treatment. In the long run your chicken as well as your poultry keeping encounter will certainly be much the far better for it.build coops
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Milan, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Silver City, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Corrales, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Sandia Park, New Mexico
Chicken Coops for Sale in Smith Lake, New Mexico