Chicken Coops for Sale in Spring Church, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Spring Church, 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 Kits Ebay in Spring Church, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Spring Church 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 Spring Church Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Spring Church, Pennsylvania With the significant rise in chicken maintaining there has been an equally huge rise in the array of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Poultry housing is an instance in point. It's likewise a classic example of the great old bandwagon being got on as various prospective fowl housing specialists peddle a range of holiday accommodation asserting to be the optimal option to your chicken housing requirements. Commonly the rate looks appealing, your house looks appealing, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are several economical as well as unpleasant coops flooding the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed container appeared. The result was nothing but a costly heap of firewood and also a small flock of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Incubator in Spring Church, Pennsylvania
More often than not these standardized models are built of fast grown up hardwood - come the first decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first cozy day indicates the hardwood dries and also splits, the really felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decline of their once attractive property but because the hovel is currently a haven for, and most likely crawling with, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly suit four big chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big area and the pop opening door allows enough for the breed you maintain, after that the primary requirements of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly define the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch must ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entrance as chickens will also normally seek the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is obviously much less), plus if more than one perch is set up in your home they ought to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your house should have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these need to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your home should have sufficient air flow: without it then condensation will build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather. Know, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving via a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of holes on opposite walls of the house as well as at the same level, this is just what's referred to as a draught. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still true, however you must likewise think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a complimentary array bird is (and let's encounter it, among the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is possibly enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close take a look at several of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, correct air flow and adequate nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get what you spend for". You might believe you've grabbed a deal, however you and also your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house as well as it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer given the proper treatment. Ultimately your fowl as well as your poultry maintaining experience will certainly be considerably the far better for it.build chickens
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