Chicken Coops for Sale in Little Switzerland, North Carolina
Chicken Coops for Sale in Little Switzerland, North Carolina
Cleaning the Chicken Coop; Fall Chores
Pallets leaned against Coop act as a wind break in Winter.
One of the chores I like to save for beautiful Fall weather is cleaning out the coop. I know that before I got chickens, I really wanted to see other people’s coops and how exactly they did things. So here is a look at my coop and the regular maintenance I have to do to keep my girls happy.
My coop is basically a chicken tractor made permanent. See how I built my chicken coop . It is only good to protect my egg laying divas during the night. I have to get up in the morning to let them out. Trust me they let me know if I am late. Late is after 8 am, so it is not like they start wailing at 5 o’clock in the morning or anything. They have a kind of wail that they only make when they want out. It is the strangest sound, kind of like a long drawn out moooooom , where are youuuuuuu? You have to hear it to understand.
Shoveling out the “raised bed” that my coop rests on.
To clean out my coop I have get someone to help me lift the coop off of the raised bed it is resting on. I have handles on either end, but it is too heavy for me to lift by myself. Thankfully my strong boys help me. Shoveling out all the old bedding and putting in new wood shavings is not too hard of a task, considering you only have to do it about 3 times per year. I empty out the nest boxes and add new hay to freshen things up. I heard for the first time the other day that it is a good idea to add crushed dried herbs to the nest boxes to make them more appealing to your hens. I tried crushed basil this time. Yes, hens are a constant source of amusement. They always want to lay eggs where everyone else is laying. I just have 2 nest boxes for my 10 hens. I call them nest boxes but they are a little unconventional. One is an old basket, the other is an old drawer. This time of year as we transition into winter the light wanes as the days grow shorter. You will notice your egg production reducing quite a bit. This is why commercial growers put a light on their chickens 24 hours a day; to keep their egg production up. Here at the homestead we try to work with nature instead of against it. That means more kale, less eggs. This is also the time that the rabbits really start producing well. While one thing lessens another takes it’s place. This probably wouldn’t work up north but I lean pallets against the coop to provide a wind break. A lot of people ask me if I need to provide a heat source for my girls when temps fall below freezing. The answer is no. It is important to make sure their water is unfrozen. Other than that chickens really do better in the Winter here than the heat of the Summer.
My hens checking out the new fresh nest box.
After the coop is all cleaned out it is time to add new wood chips. I get what is called a “Country Boy” which is farmer speak for a big packed bag of wood shavings. I get mine from my local feed store in Garland. When I first started chickens I used Fall leaves gathered from the curb. I like the shavings better because the compost turns out better, but oak leaves work out well as chicken bedding too. It is hard to see in the picture but the bottom of the coop against the ground is wire screen(yard cloth) to keep digging critters out.
My hens get very curious about all the changes taking place and come to check it all out. I put the old bedding into a bin and drag it to my compost. Thankfully I don’t have to go too far. I keep my compost in my chicken yard so that my hens can stir my compost and so that they can get the minerals they need to keep their egg shells hard. I put the cracked egg shells in the compost where my hens can gobble them up therefore getting the calcium they need to keep their egg shells firm. I also put other left over kitchen scraps in the compost for them to enjoy. Speaking of compost, a lot of people ask me about mine. Let me just say that trying to heat up a compost pile without manure of some sort is NOT easy. To heat up a compost pile without manure add fresh grass clippings. However right about the time fall leaves are readily abundant, grass clippings are NOT readily available. If you have read my posts at all you are probably sensing a theme; get an animal or a source of manure for your garden. Chickens or rabbits, even worms; your garden will thank you with beautiful veggies.
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Chicken Coop House in Little Switzerland, North Carolina
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Little Switzerland North Carolina" 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 Little Switzerland North Carolina chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Little Switzerland, North Carolina With the big rise in poultry keeping there has been an equally large surge in the array of fowl materiel for sale. Chicken housing is a proceedings in point. It's also a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential poultry real estate experts pitch an array of holiday accommodation asserting to be the optimal option to your chicken real estate needs. Frequently the cost looks attractive, your house looks attractive, heck also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous cheap as well as awful cages flooding the market. I know this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was just a costly heap of fire wood and also a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Cheap in Little Switzerland, North Carolina
Typically these mass produced designs are built of quick grown up wood - come the very first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not close, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking residents. The first warm and comfortable day implies the timber dries and fractures, the really felt roof bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their once attractive building yet due to the fact that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and most likely abounding, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would fit 4 large hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big room and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the main needs of real estate boil down to three factors which will certainly define the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm large 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 also normally try to find the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries can happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in little types this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will 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 house ought to have a least one nest box for every three birds and these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of the house. Your home ought to have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation works with the concept of warm air leaving via a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of the house and at the very same level, this is what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still real, however you ought to additionally consider the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a totally free variety bird is (and let's face it, among the motivations for keeping some chickens at home is potentially enhanced or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close take a look at some of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, correct air flow as well as adequate nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You might think you've got hold of a deal, but you and your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer given the correct treatment. Eventually your chicken and your chicken keeping encounter will be much the far better for it.plan diy
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