Chicken Coops for Sale in Sullivans Island, South Carolina
Chicken Coops for Sale in Sullivans Island, South Carolina
Chicken Coops — The Top 5 Requirements
Chicken Coops – What You Need
Happy, healthy chickens need proper housing, but knowing what you need may seem daunting. Don’t let choosing the house for your chickens intimidate you. Meeting the needs of your flock, whether building your own chicken castle or buying ready-made, is easy and should provide for four basic needs.
- Protection from the elements
- Protection from predators
- Place for laying eggs
- A roost at night
The Components of a Chicken Coop
As I wrote in my , chickens have an innate homing instinct, keeping your flock close to home. Our feathered kids are such home bodies that even free ranging, every night before sundown all our chickens are perched in the coop. I always recommend a protected place for your flock to come home and roost for the night, even when free ranging.
You don’t need a poultry castle for your chickens to come home to. come in many shapes, sizes, and designs, from fancy to plain. Believe it or not, your chickens won’t care what the coop looks like as long as it provides the above four basic needs.
With that said, before deciding what type of coop you are going to buy or build, you must determine what coop features are needed that most closely conform to a chicken’s natural behavior. Hopefully I can help you understand what you need in the design of your chicken coop.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. All chicken coops need 3 things; a roof, 4 walls, and a doorway for entering and leaving. The design and the materials used for the chicken coop is up to you. As long as it is mostly draft free (you still need healthy ventilation), your choices are endless.
Your coop space is based on the number of chickens you plan to house. A good rule of thumb is 4 square feet of floor space per large chicken and 3 square feet for the smaller bantam breeds. Also consider the ease of cleaning when choosing your coop design; you’ll be glad you did.
Security
Making a chicken coop predator free is the most important part of building a home for your flock. Your coop must be secure from the top, bottom, and all sides. When looking at any pre-made coop or chicken coop building plans, consider all angles for security. Not only should you consider the security of the coop itself, but the security of the yard and run as well.
When choosing the wire for your run and coop, we advise steering clear of standard chicken wire. While it works well for keeping your chickens contained it’s not entirely predator proof. Because the holes in standard chicken wire are large, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes can still reach through the mesh, causing harm to your chickens. Always use a small hole wire like hardware cloth with ½ inch openings.
Another consideration when building the chicken yard or run, is airborne predators like hawks. You must include covering the top of the run as well. Our chicken runs use the same size mesh fencing on the top as the sides.
Finally, there are predators from below, such as rats and mice. These critters are attracted to the feed and droppings and like to burrow under your coop. Protect your chickens by using a coop with a floor built into it or burying small mesh fencing below the coop and extending it about 12 inches out on all sides.
The Outside Run
All coops need a connecting chicken run or pen. Chickens need access to the outside to do all those “chicken things”, like dirt baths, catching bugs, scratching dirt, or just relaxing in the sunshine or shade.
Ideally, your chicken run should have 10 square feet of ground space per full size chicken. The smaller bantam breeds require less, about 7 square feet per chicken. If your chickens free range the majority of the day, you can get by with less space.
Laying Boxes
If you want eggs, you need laying boxes. These can be as fancy or as plain as you like, just as long as they are about 12” x 12” and raised off the ground a few inches. You need one box for every 4 laying hens. Boxes should comfortably fit the chicken and have low enough sides for the hens to step over. Be sure to keep your boxes lined with clean straw or other bedding.
Roosting Perches
All birds roost, including chickens. Your coop needs a roosting bar or something off the ground on which your chickens can perch. We strongly suggest having perches both inside the coop and outside in the run area.
When figuring roosting pole size, provide 5-10” of space per chicken and 10” of space between each pole if you are using more than one. Multiple poles also need grading like ladders so the farthest pole is several inches higher than the next.
There are many shapes, sizes, and styles of chicken coops to choose from. Making the right choice for your needs is important, and all coops need to contain all necessary elements.
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Chicken Coop Pinterest in Sullivans Island, South Carolina
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Sullivans Island South Carolina" 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 Sullivans Island South Carolina chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Sullivans Island, South Carolina With the substantial increase in chicken keeping there has actually been a just as large rise in the array of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Chicken housing is an instance in factor. It's likewise a traditional example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various prospective chicken real estate professionals market a range of accommodation declaring to be the optimal solution to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the rate looks eye-catching, the house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and also nasty cages swamping the market. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was nothing but a pricey stack of fire wood and also a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Run Ideas in Sullivans Island, South Carolina
More often than not these standardized models are constructed of rapid grown timber - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't close, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The first warm day means the timber dries out and also cracks, the really felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as desirable commercial property but since the hovel is now a sanctuary for, and also most likely crawling with, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large hens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you entrusted? 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 could depend upon whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a big space as well as the pop hole door is big enough for the breed you keep, after that the major requirements of housing boil down to three factors which will specify the number of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally normally look for the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require regarding 20cm of perch each (in little breeds this is undoubtedly much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your house needs to have a least one nest box for every three birds and these need to be off the ground and in the darkest location of your house. Your house ought to have adequate air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly accumulate every evening, even in the chilliest of weather. Understand, ventilation works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a set of openings on other walls of your 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 affixed then the points above are still true, but you must additionally consider the run size. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a cost-free variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens at home is potentially enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close take a look at several of the deal homes - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, appropriate ventilation and sufficient nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You might believe you've grabbed a bargain, but you and also your flock might rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and it will certainly last for a few decades, otherwise longer given the proper treatment. In the long run your fowl and also your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be much the far better for it.build for sale
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