Chicken Coops for Sale in Richland, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Richland, Pennsylvania
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 Run Ideas in Richland, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Richland 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 Richland Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Richland, Pennsylvania With the big rise in poultry keeping there has been a similarly huge rise in the variety of poultry materiel on sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's likewise a classic example of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be fowl real estate professionals pitch a variety of lodging declaring to be the suitable option to your chicken housing requirements. Commonly the cost looks appealing, the house looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of cheap and also horrible cages flooding the marketplace. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed container appeared. The outcome was nothing but a pricey heap of fire wood and also a small group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits For Sale in Richland, Pennsylvania
Usually these mass produced versions are constructed of rapid grown hardwood - come the first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't close, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The very first warm and comfortable day suggests the lumber dries as well as fractures, the really felt roof covering bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not as a result of their disappointment at the decrease of their once attractive residential property yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also probably abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large chickens when that stocking thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A few joints and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big room as well as the pop opening door is big enough for the breed you keep, then the primary needs of real estate boil down to three factors which will specify the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. The majority of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch ought to be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally naturally look for the acme 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) bring about stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably the house must have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. The house ought to have sufficient air flow: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, ventilation deals with the principle of cozy air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of the house and also at the very same level, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still real, yet you need to also consider the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a cost-free array bird is (and also let's face it, one of the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is possibly enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close take a look at several of the bargain houses - it could well be your house has the best perches, right ventilation and also ample nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You might believe you've grabbed a bargain, however you as well as your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the correct treatment. Ultimately your fowl and your poultry maintaining experience will certainly be much the much better for it.for sale chicken
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