Chicken Coops for Sale in Appleton, New York
Chicken Coops for Sale in Appleton, New York
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 House Plans in Appleton, New York
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Appleton New York" 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 Appleton New York chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Appleton, New York With the huge increase in poultry maintaining there has been a similarly big rise in the array of poultry stuff on sale. Chicken real estate is a proceedings in point. It's additionally a classic example of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as different potential poultry real estate specialists market a selection of lodging claiming to be the perfect solution to your chicken housing demands. Commonly the rate looks eye-catching, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Definitely they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost as well as unpleasant coops swamping the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood and a small group of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Boxes in Appleton, New York
Typically these standardized versions are constructed of rapid grown up wood - come the very first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that won't shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The very first warm and comfortable day means the wood dries out and also splits, the felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as appealing home yet considering that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and most likely crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would fit four large chickens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you entrusted? A number of joints and some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds must cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a big area and the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, after that the primary needs of real estate boil down to 3 factors which will define the number of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box access as chickens will likewise normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the list below day. They should not however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home needs to have a the very least one nest box for each three birds as well as these should be off the ground and also in the darkest location of the house. Your home ought to have ample air flow: without it then condensation will build up every night, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works with the concept of warm air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of the house and at the exact same degree, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still true, however you must likewise take into consideration the run size. The EU optimum lawful stocking density for a totally free array bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some hens in the house is possibly boosted or better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close consider several of the bargain houses - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, proper air flow as well as adequate nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you get what you spend for". You could assume you've grabbed a bargain, yet you and also your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house and it will certainly last for a couple of years, otherwise longer given the correct therapy. Eventually your fowl as well as your fowl keeping experience will be a lot the much better for it.chickens diy
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