Chicken Coops for Sale in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania
Chicken coops for beginners – a primer!
Your chickens will need a safe dry and well ventilated place to roost at night or to be in bad weather. So here is a chicken coops for beginners primer!
Just cute chicks!
Chicken coops for beginners – things to consider!
We have had a variety of coops since we first started with chickens. We have had old wooden crates converted to a basic house through to our latest construction. We have learned much from each design and have tried to build a better coop for both the chickens and us each time we have had to reconstruct. The only reoccurring theme is that we have tried to use as many recycled items as we could….more to save costs than any other noble reason.
To get some inspiration, have a look at .
The chickens in the new coop
Here are the things that we now consider when we are designing our coops.
Safe Is the coop secure from other animals trying to get in? Here in the NE of the USA we worry about foxes, coyotes, raccoons etc. So it needs to be a design that can’t be broken into, ripped open, lifted up or turned over. In Australia I would be also trying to keep out snakes. Out coop lets in a chipmunk and a squirrel – they get a free feed but don’t do any other damage.
Airy Even in our cold climate, we have a well ventilated coop. Chickens seem to cope extremely well in the cold (ours did great in three months of very bitter winter when it did not get above freezing). So they don’t need a coop that is centrally heated. So good ventilation without being breezy on the birds is perfect.
Chickens on ice!
You don’t need it be be insulated and have central heating. On the really cold days and nights when the thermometer reading was way below freezing we run a red heating lamp to provide a little comfort.
Dry Damp chickens are not happy chickens…and will probably end up as sick chickens. Your coop needs to always be dry. So it has to be up off the ground, a roof to stop rain and/or snow dripping in and a way to open it up in case it does get damp inside. We have stopped providing drinking water in our coop unless its winter (with a water warmer) because the chickens just made a wet mess!
Roosting poles
Chickens need to be able to roost on a perch to sleep, just like all birds do at night (ok …emus don’t). Your chickens needs to have an old broom handle, tree branch or other item to settle on inside the coop. We have four feet of old curtain rod and all six adult birds are very happy. When we get more chickens (the coop could take another dozen) we will install more perches.The new coop’s roosting pole.
Nesting boxes Your girls will appreciate a place to lay their eggs. Some people like to build nesting boxes inside the coop. We found that having nesting boxes that have easy access for humans to collect eggs are great, however our free ranging girls like to lay in a spot in our barn rather than the nesting boxes. Inside our coop the nesting boxes are cut down plastic buckets and these are only used if we are late in letting them out and one girl just can’t wait.
The plastic nesting boxes
Easy to clean We use the deep litter method – which is just code for laying a deep pile of old hay onto the floor of the coop. We clean it out every few months and find that it works great. On past coops it was quite a chore to get into the coop and clean it. With our current design we made a flap on one wall so we have great access for cleaning. We also made the coop tall and added two cut down doors so we can get inside both from the outside and from inside the barn in winter.
Front of the coop – see the lower flap we can open to clean it out – now its a 5 min job!
Chicken coops for beginners – why do it!
Building the coop can be a great family affair. We collected materials from our dump for a few months and then built the structure as a lean-to off the barn. That way we could have a door to the inside of the barn so during winter the chickens could use the barn to roam around if they did not want to venture out into the snow. We also have a door on the outside of the coop and a window on the south side – so it gets loads of light and is easy to clean and air out.
The coop framed up
Coop finished
So far this chicken coop has been perfect! Easy for us to get into. Easy to clean. But most of all, the chickens seem happy to call it home! Using recycled materials has kept our costs low as well!
Jen and Madie ‘fancy up’ the coop with paint.
We hope this chicken coops for beginners primer will help you have happier and safer chickens!
Chicken Coop Necessities in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Knox Dale 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 Knox Dale Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania With the big increase in poultry keeping there has been a similarly big rise in the variety of chicken materiel on sale. Chicken real estate is a case in point. It's additionally a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as various prospective chicken housing specialists market a range of accommodation declaring to be the ideal remedy to your chicken housing demands. Often the cost looks eye-catching, your house looks eye-catching, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Undoubtedly they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive and unpleasant cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was only an expensive pile of firewood as well as a tiny group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For Sale Near Me in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania
Typically these standardized versions are constructed of fast grown up hardwood - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that will not shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first cozy day suggests the hardwood dries and also splits, the felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not because of their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching apartment however because the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also most likely abounding, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 big chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you left with? A couple of hinges and also some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big area and also the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, after that the main demands of housing come down to 3 points which will specify the variety of birds your house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be above the nest box access as chickens will additionally normally try to find 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 create one of the most poo) causing stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could possibly take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is certainly less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest location of your house. The house ought to have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every evening, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Know, ventilation deals with the principle of warm air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of holes on other wall surfaces of the house and at the very same degree, this is what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, but you need to also think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a free variety bird is (as well as allow's encounter it, among the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is perhaps enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at some of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the best perches, appropriate ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You might assume you've grabbed a deal, yet you as well as your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house and also it will last for a few years, otherwise longer offered the proper therapy. In the long run your poultry and also your chicken maintaining encounter will certainly be much the much better for it.chick coops
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