Chicken Coops for Sale in Hickory, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Hickory, Pennsylvania
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?
Chicken Coop Reviews in Hickory, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Hickory Pennsylvania" 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 Hickory Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Hickory, Pennsylvania With the massive increase in poultry keeping there has been a similarly huge rise in the range of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Poultry housing is a situation in factor. It's additionally a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be chicken real estate specialists pitch a range of lodging asserting to be the perfect remedy to your chicken housing demands. Often the price looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks eye-catching, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Certainly they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of economical as well as awful coops swamping the marketplace. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was just an expensive heap of fire wood and also a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Facts in Hickory, Pennsylvania
Typically these mass produced versions are constructed of fast grown up hardwood - come the first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking residents. The first warm day implies the wood dries out and splits, the felt roof covering bubbles and boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decrease of their when eye-catching commercial property however due to the fact that the hovel is now a place for, and most likely crawling with, the poultry caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit 4 huge chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you entrusted? A few hinges and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big space and the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the main needs of real estate come down to three points which will specify the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Most types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will likewise normally seek the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is clearly 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 next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your home ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and also these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your house. Your house must have ample air flow: without it after that condensation will develop every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of the house as well as at the exact same level, this is just what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still real, yet you should additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a cost-free variety bird is (as well as let's face it, one of the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps boosted or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close look at several of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the best perches, appropriate ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you obtain what you pay for". You could think you've got hold of a bargain, yet you and also your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and it will certainly last for a few years, otherwise longer offered the appropriate therapy. Eventually your poultry and also your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be much the much better for it.chick diy
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