Chicken Coops for Sale in Duncan, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Duncan, Oklahoma
Metal Siding on Chicken Coops
My chicken coops have always had metal roofs, and now I’m trying out metal siding, on the grounds that I want anything I build to last 20 years without maintenance, and the exterior plywood I’ve been using doesn’t deliver that.
[Update: Seven years after writing this blog post, the corrugated metal walls are holding up well. Seven years is long enough for plywood walls to start falling to pieces, but the metal walls are holding up well, with only a bit of rust here and there.]
One of my old pasture houses, with a 15-year-old metal roof and 7-year-old metal siding.
Does Metal Promote Condensation and Wetness?
People will tell you that metal siding sweats, because of condensation. This is true if the inside of the house is warmer than the outside, since moisture from the warm house will condense on the cold walls and ceiling. But it’s not about metal vs. wood, since condensation forms on any kind of roof or wall, no matter what it’s made of. In marginal cases, it’s more visible on metal because it’s 100% non-absorbent.
A Fresh-Air House is a Dry House
But you can dodge the problem with a fresh-air poultry house. If you add enough ventilation, the inside of the house is just as cold as the outside, and you get no condensation. My metal roofs don’t have condensation unless there’s snow on the roof and temperatures are above freezing. The rest of the time, my highly ventilated houses have dry ceilings and walls.
Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, by Prince T. Woods. Reprinted by me!
This is one of the main points of , the chicken-coop book I’ve republished (check out the if you haven’t already). It focuses on the advantage of well-ventilated houses, a concept that still needs to be repeated constantly today. You won’t read anything about metal walls or roofs in this book, since it predates their use, but it’s a treasure trove in other ways.
You can also prevent condensation with insulation, but I don’t do that.
Can you really prevent damp chicken houses through ventilation alone? Well, it works for me, and I live in Oregon, which has a famously wet climate!
Installing Corrugated Sheet Metal Walls
Back to the construction project. In keeping with my other rule of construction (never use a saw when you can buy stuff that’s already the right size), I ignored my existing stock of 10-foot metal roofing and obtained some cheap 8-foot corrugated roofing from Home Depot. My chicken houses are 8×8 feet.
Karen and I banged these sheets onto a couple of sides of a chicken house where the old OSB siding was falling to pieces. We used roofing screws. These are hex drive screws with neoprene washers. We used to use roofing nails, but they pull loose too easily and we hate having roofing panels flapping loose in the breeze! And using power tools instead of a hammer keeps my shoulders and back from seizing up. I bang the screw in a short way with a hammer, then drive it home with a cordless drill.
I’m told that roofing screws have three times the holding power of nails.
These panels went on very quickly, and if they ever rust through (which they will, at the bottom edges anyway, if I allow chicken manure to pile up against them), I can take the screws out and replace them just as easily.
So far, so good. The shiny metal really brightens up the interior of the chicken house, and because it’s non-porous, it provides no place for roost mites to accumulate.
Cheap Roofing is Good Enough
Plain old “ripple metal” (corrugated steel) is less rigid than V-channel roofing, but it’s proven to be stiff enough, even for a house that gets dragged around behind a tractor, which can put all sorts of stresses on it, especially if it gets hung up on holes and bumps along the way. So far, so good. That means that, so far, the cheapest possible corrugated metal has been perfectly adequate.
Watch out for translucent corrugated fiberglass. In my experience, it’s not very strong and becomes increasingly brittle over time. I’m sure it has its uses, but don’t think of it as being structural in the way that plywood and corrugated steel are.
You Don’t Have to Settle for Ugly
Of course, you can build a much prettier house with metal roofing with baked-enamel finishes in designer colors, and you should probably do this if you don’t want a silver house, since it’s hard to get paint to stick to galvanized steel. While I’m always looking for the cheapest, longest-lasting, easiest-to-build designs, there are plenty of other ways of approaching the problem of chicken-coop design.
Related
Chicken Coop Pinterest in Duncan, Oklahoma
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Duncan Oklahoma" 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 Duncan Oklahoma chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Duncan, Oklahoma With the significant rise in poultry maintaining there has been an equally huge surge in the variety of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry housing is a proceedings in factor. It's additionally a traditional instance of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective chicken housing specialists pitch a range of cottage declaring to be the optimal option to your chicken real estate demands. Commonly the cost looks desirable, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they recognize a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical and nasty cages swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was only a pricey heap of firewood as well as a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits in Duncan, Oklahoma
Usually these standardized designs are built of fast grown up lumber - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking residents. The first warm and comfortable day implies the lumber dries and also splits, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as appealing home yet considering that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and most likely abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A couple of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a large area and also the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, after that the main needs of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly likewise naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate one of the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home must have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and these must be off the ground and also in the darkest location of your house. Your house needs to have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will accumulate every night, also in the coldest of weather condition. Realize, air flow works on the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of holes on opposite wall surfaces of your house as well as at the same degree, this is what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still real, yet you need to also take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a totally free variety bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some chickens at home is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow and enough nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You could assume you've got hold of a bargain, yet you and also your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer offered the correct therapy. In the end your fowl and also your poultry keeping encounter will be much the better for it.chicken build
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Ames, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Davidson, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Bixby, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Atoka, Oklahoma
Chicken Coops for Sale in Depew, Oklahoma