Chicken Coops for Sale in Clarkston, Utah
Chicken Coops for Sale in Clarkston, Utah
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 Plans Free in Clarkston, Utah
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Clarkston Utah" 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 Clarkston Utah chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Clarkston, Utah With the substantial increase in chicken keeping there has actually been a similarly huge increase in the variety of fowl paraphernalia for sale. Poultry real estate is a situation in factor. It's likewise a classic instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous prospective fowl real estate specialists market a selection of accommodation declaring to be the suitable option to your chicken housing requirements. Frequently the price looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable and awful cages swamping the market. I recognize this as I've examined a number of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed container showed up. The result was nothing but a pricey pile of firewood as well as a tiny flock of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Enclosure in Clarkston, Utah
Usually these mass produced versions are constructed of quick grown up wood - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking citizens. The initial cozy day suggests the hardwood dries out as well as fractures, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their as soon as eye-catching property but because the hovel is now a haven for, as well as most likely abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 big chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you left with? A couple of hinges as well as some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large space and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the main demands of real estate come down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box access as chickens will certainly likewise normally seek the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is by the way when they produce the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the list below day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of the house that leg injuries can take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little types this is undoubtedly less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally the house must have a least one nest box for each three birds as well as these need to be off the ground and also in the darkest location of your house. Your house should have sufficient ventilation: without it after that condensation will develop every night, also in the coldest of weather condition. Realize, ventilation works with the principle of warm air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a set of openings on contrary wall surfaces of your house and at the same degree, this is exactly what's known as a draught. If you have a house with a run connected after that the points above are still real, however you should likewise consider the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a totally free range bird is (and also allow's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens at home is potentially improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird per 4m settled. Take a close look at a few of the deal residences - it could well be your house has the best perches, proper ventilation and ample nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you obtain exactly what you spend for". You may think you've grabbed a bargain, yet you and also your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will last for a couple of years, if not longer given the appropriate therapy. Eventually your chicken and your chicken maintaining encounter will certainly be much the better for it.plans build
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