Chicken Coops for Sale in Winfield, Pennsylvania
Chicken Coops for Sale in Winfield, Pennsylvania
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
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So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Chicken Coop Pinterest in Winfield, Pennsylvania
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Winfield 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 Winfield Pennsylvania chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Winfield, Pennsylvania With the substantial boost in poultry maintaining there has been a similarly huge rise in the range of fowl materiel on sale. Fowl real estate is an instance in factor. It's also a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various potential poultry housing experts market an array of accommodation asserting to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate demands. Usually the cost looks desirable, your house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of low-cost as well as unpleasant cages flooding the market. I know this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was just a costly heap of firewood and a little flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Easy To Clean in Winfield, Pennsylvania
Typically these mass produced designs are built of rapid grown up hardwood - come the initial decrease of rainfall they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not close, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The first cozy day implies the lumber dries and cracks, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as desirable home however because the hovel is now a haven for, and possibly abounding, the fowl keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would match 4 big hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you left with? A couple of joints as well as some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a big space and also the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the type you maintain, then the major requirements of housing come down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. The majority of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch needs to be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally normally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) leading to dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could possibly occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is certainly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they need to 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 ahead. Preferably the house should have a the very least one nest box for every three birds and these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. Your house needs to have appropriate ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every evening, even in the chilliest of weather. Realize, ventilation works on the principle of cozy air leaving via a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of openings on contrary walls of the house as well as at the very same degree, this is exactly what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, however you should also take into consideration the run size. The EU maximum legal equipping density for a cost-free variety bird is (and let's encounter it, among the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is potentially improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m made even. Take a close check out a few of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, correct ventilation as well as enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the saying goes, "you get exactly what you spend for". You could believe you've grabbed a deal, but you as well as your group can rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer offered the appropriate treatment. Eventually your chicken as well as your chicken keeping experience will be considerably the far better for it.for sale chickens
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