Chicken Coops for Sale in Lumberton, Texas
Chicken Coops for Sale in Lumberton, Texas
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 On Wheels Designs in Lumberton, Texas
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Lumberton 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 Lumberton Texas chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Lumberton, Texas With the significant boost in chicken maintaining there has been a similarly large surge in the variety of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Fowl housing is a case in point. It's likewise a traditional example of the great old bandwagon being got on as various would-be fowl real estate specialists market a selection of accommodation claiming to be the perfect remedy to your chicken real estate needs. Typically the rate looks appealing, your house looks attractive, heck even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Surely they understand a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost and unpleasant cages swamping the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed container showed up. The result was just a pricey stack of firewood as well as a little flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick House in Lumberton, Texas
Usually these mass produced models are built of quick grown up hardwood - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day means the wood dries out and splits, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decline of their when eye-catching apartment however due to the fact that the hovel is currently a place for, and most likely abounding, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit four big hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you entrusted? A few joints and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a huge area and the pop hole doorway allows enough for the breed you keep, then the main requirements of real estate boil down to 3 points which will define the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch must be more than the nest box entry as chickens will also naturally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce one of the most poo) resulting in stained eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries can occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is undoubtedly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly 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 should have a least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your home. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will develop every night, even in the chilliest of climate. Be aware, ventilation deals with the principle of cozy air leaving through a high space drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a set of holes on contrary walls of your home and at the very same level, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still true, yet you must additionally consider the run size. The EU maximum lawful equipping density for a cost-free array bird is (and also allow's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens at home is potentially boosted or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close consider a few of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, correct air flow and also adequate nest boxes for a practical number of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you obtain just what you spend for". You may assume you've got hold of a deal, however you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house as well as it will last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer given the correct treatment. In the long run your fowl and also your fowl maintaining experience will be considerably the better for it.build chickens
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