Chicken Coops for Sale in Jefferson, Texas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Jefferson, Texas
Preparing Your Coop/Flock For Winter – Part 1: Roof Structure
Last week I posted a list of items that you may want to consider doing to make sure you and your flock are ready for the colder winter months. I’m going to try address one or two of these topics every Wednesday so that if you are going to work on them over the weekend you have time to plan.
Again I know it’s hard to even think of winter when the temperatures are in the 90’s in many parts of the country, but the cold weather will be on us before you know. Its much easier to take the time now to button up any issues, then trying to do it in the dead of winter. Many of you will not deal with snow and ice (lucky you!) but many of these topics effect all of us backyard chicken keepers and have a detrimental effect on the overall health of your coop…As I always say if what I post pertains to you and helps, great, if not just forget about it and move on…
Coop Roof Structure:
The roof of your coop is the first line of defense against the elements. A sound roof will not only prevent water penetration but will help in keeping your coop warm during the winter. As we all know heat rises (check our second floor of the house out in the summer!) and a solid roof can help trap some of this heat keeping the inside of the coop warmer. The important thing to remember is that you do not want to trap all of the heat by cutting off ventilation. Heat develops moisture and condensation so it’s important to have a balance. Ventilation is an important aspect of the coop, without it moisture builds, ammonia fumes become overpowering and your birds health will suffer. There is a huge difference between ventilation and a draft, we will be discussing “drafts” in a later post.
Having controllable ventilation at the peak of the roof structure will help to maintain a healthy coop. This can easily be accomplished with some screen covered holes on the side walls of the peak and using a piece of plywood to control how much of an opening you want. There are some much more elaborate systems out there but they all accomplish the same thing, controllable ventilation. If you don’t have ventilation at the peak you may want to consider it. There is a reason why so many homes have ventilation at the eves and peaks, it helps to control moisture in the home during the winter as well keeping the home cooler in the summer months.
Ensuring that your roof is leak free is also very important. That little leak you have been dealing with all summer may become a big issue during the winter when you get the “freeze/thaw effects”. During the day as snow and ice melt, water can leak into the the roof structure. At night this water freezes and expands resulting in a larger and larger leak as the days go by. There are many products out there that can help seal up these leaks but be careful some have toxic fumes that could be harmful to your flock. Sometimes just using a new shingle on asphalt roofs does the trick. Metal roofs typically leak at the seams or nail heads, a good quality sealer should handle these areas. Just remember most of the time the leak you see dripping on the underside of the roof came from a hole or crack above where you see the dripping. When water leaks in, gravity causes the water to run to the lowest point. It may take some investigation to find where the leak is actually coming from but a good starting point is to start above the spot you see the leak dripping.
If the wood on your coop roof is rotted it should be replaced. Rotted wood normally contains a large amount of moisture. The moisture in this wood adds moisture to the coop (remember, it’s a bad thing). “Freeze/Thaw” effects can take place on this rotted wood causing it to deteriorate even quicker. Snow loads can add significant weight to the top of the coop and a unstable structure runs the risk of collapse. I can only imagine how difficult it would be dealing with a roof collapse in the dead of winter! If the snow and ice get to heavy for the roof on your coop, you should remove it. When removing it be careful not to damage the roof shingles or other covering! Stand on a steady surface with both feet firmly planted on the ground or step when attempting to remove snow and ice.
A roof leak also adds unwanted moisture to you coop by letting water in and keeping the litter wet. The interior of a coop has enough moisture from bird droppings and the moisture a chicken itself gives off by breathing, you don’t need or want the added moisture from a leak. If the litter in the coop becomes wet from any source during the winter you should remove it and replace it with fresh as quickly as possible. Placing a bucket under the leak to catch the drip is not a good fix. When water drips into the bucket it can splash a fine mist a considerable distance. This mist keeps the litter wet and the air inside the coop too moist.
A well ventilated, leak free, structurally sound roof on your coop is a extremely important part in maintaining the overall health of your coop. This is not an area that you want to just “make do” and cut corners. There are many materials that you can use for a roof. Some, like scrap metal roofing or end cut pieces of tar paper and shingles can be found at a local building site (ask first, you don’t want the end up in jail!) or a recycling center. I would avoid using a tarp, although these are good in an emergency should you find a leak. And never use pressure treated wood which can give off toxic fumes in a enclosed area like a coop. If your roof membrane is water tight there is no need for pressure treated plywood or lumber as a deck surface.
By addressing the coops roof now you can prevent dealing with the effects of a wet environment in the dead cold of the winter months…Hope this helps….
FrankThe Chicken Fountain™
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Baby Yellow Chick in Jefferson, Texas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Jefferson Texas" 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 Jefferson Texas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Jefferson, Texas With the significant rise in poultry keeping there has been a just as huge rise in the range of fowl materiel for sale. Fowl housing is an instance in point. It's additionally a classic instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective poultry real estate specialists peddle an array of accommodation asserting to be the suitable remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Frequently the cost looks desirable, your house looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Undoubtedly they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several inexpensive as well as awful cages flooding the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was just an expensive stack of fire wood and also a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Adelaide in Jefferson, Texas
Generally these standardized models are built of quick grown timber - come the first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that will not shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The initial warm day suggests the wood dries and also cracks, the felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching residential property but since the hovel is now a place for, and also possibly abounding, the chicken caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 huge chickens when that stocking density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you entrusted? A few joints as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large space as well as the pop opening door allows sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the major demands of housing boil down to 3 factors which will certainly define the variety of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. A lot of types of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch must be above the nest box entry as chickens will additionally normally look for the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries could take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small types this is obviously much less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they need to be greater 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. Ideally your home needs to have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and these must be off the ground and in the darkest area of your home. The house must have adequate air flow: without it then condensation will develop every evening, even in the coldest of weather. Realize, ventilation works with the concept of warm air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of your home and at the same level, this is just what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, but you ought to likewise think about the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful stocking thickness for a totally free array bird is (and also let's encounter it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is possibly improved or better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m squared. Take a close consider some of the bargain residences - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, right ventilation and adequate nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may assume you've grabbed a bargain, however you and also your group might rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer given the appropriate treatment. In the end your poultry and your fowl maintaining experience will be a lot the much better for it.diy coops
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