Chicken Coops for Sale in Finley, Tennessee
Chicken Coops for Sale in Finley, Tennessee
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 For 4 Chickens in Finley, Tennessee
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Finley Tennessee" 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 Finley Tennessee chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Finley, Tennessee With the substantial increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as large rise in the variety of chicken stuff for sale. Poultry housing is a case in factor. It's additionally a timeless instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different would-be chicken real estate experts pitch an array of cottage asserting to be the excellent solution to your chicken housing requirements. Often the rate looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they understand a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost and also awful coops flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was nothing but an expensive heap of firewood as well as a small group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits in Finley, Tennessee
Typically these mass produced models are built of rapid grown up timber - come the very first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that will not close, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking citizens. The very first warm and comfortable day indicates the lumber dries and fractures, the felt roofing system bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the chickens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as appealing commercial property yet considering that the hovel is currently a place for, and most likely abounding, the chicken keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly match four large chickens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A number of hinges and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large room as well as the pop opening doorway allows enough for the type you keep, after that the main requirements of housing come down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch needs to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally naturally look for 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 create the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries can happen when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in small types this is certainly less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your house they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your home needs to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of the house. The house must have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will develop every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of warm air leaving through a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of openings on contrary walls of your home as well as at the exact same level, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still true, but you need to also consider the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful stocking density for a complimentary range bird is (and allow's encounter it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens at home is perhaps enhanced or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close check out some of the bargain homes - it could well be the house has the right perches, proper air flow and enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You could assume you've grabbed a deal, however you and your group could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and also it will last for a few years, if not longer offered the appropriate treatment. Eventually your poultry and your fowl keeping experience will be a lot the far better for it.diy coop
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