Chicken Coops for Sale in Orwell, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Orwell, Vermont
Our Chicken Coop Design – Front Elevation (Part 2 of 3)
Okay, I lied. I had hoped to finish up writing on our chicken coop design with this post, but I ran out of time and markers…seriously – my gray marker ran out. So today I’m going to focus on the front elevation and next week I’ll wrap it up with the other 3 elevations.
Front Elevation of the Coop
When designing your coop you really need to think through ventilation for a number of reasons: respiratory health of the chickens; drying out the moisture and their manure keeps down the smells and the potential of the hens getting sick. I made ours super-ventilated by covering the entire front of our coop with hardware cloth. We may have gone overboard, but it’s better to err on the side of too much ventilation in a coop than too little…and because Atlanta has a fairly temperate climate, I think we’re good. That said, you do have to consider strong winds – particularly in the colder months. That’s why Britt and I crafted Roman shade-like curtains out of painter’s drop cloths for the front and the windows on the other 3 sides of the coop. It was quite inexpensive and fairly easy to do…particularly if you strategically use the hems already sewn in. These curtains will give our ladies a refuge from the cold winds – protecting the exposed areas of their bodies (combs, wattles, and feet).
Here are a few other things to note about the front elevation of our coop:
- Again, entire area is covered in hardware cloth. I could have used chicken wire on the top (bottom needs hardware cloth to keep out critters), but I had enough hardware cloth and I thought it looked better for the entire area to be consistent.
- The height of the walls are 6.5’…which is plenty high (for me at least) to be able to walk through the door…and there is plenty of height inside, since there is no ceiling (just the rafters and tin roof above).
- 24″ doors were constructed out of pressure-treated wood and painted the same color as the doors of our home.
- To clean things up a bit and to cover up where the pieces of hardware cloth met, I added 1″ trim on the outside of each 2×4 and painted it and the siding of the rest of the coop the same color gray as our house.
- We used gate latches as handles. If you do as well, make sure you make it so that you won’t get locked in when the doors close. To do that, I simply drilled a hole just above the latch and attached a long, thin chain that I threaded through the hole…allowing me to open the latch from inside. Don’t use string or twine…I found that out the hard way. String will wear out and break – leaving you stranded inside. Fortunately when it happened to me, one of my girls was within shouting distance.
- We were running out of hardware cloth when we were finishing the gable, so we simply filled in the middle space with a board and painted it gray. To make sense of this oddly proportioned space and to bring a little bit of character to the coop, I hung a set of antlers from a Mule Deer I shot several years ago with my dad in Wyoming.
So there’s the front elevation. We are really pleased with it…it’s done what we set out to do – make a more than livable space for our chickens (and bunny), while still being attractive. Now we may be a bit too particular, but I really think having an attractive coop in a nice setting has made raising chickens not only sustainable, but more enjoyable. So sure, you could build a coop that is purely functional, but if it looks like a hunk of junk, is that really something you want to see every day…sometimes several times? We thought not.
Next week I’ll wrap things up on our chicken coop design…but until then, please let me know if you have any other questions about our coop or raising chickens. I could perhaps work my answers into the next post.
Take care,
PS: Here are the links to and of Our Chicken Coop Design…and the link to .
Related posts on RYGblog
Chicken Incubator in Orwell, Vermont
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Orwell Vermont" 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 Orwell Vermont chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Orwell, Vermont With the substantial boost in chicken maintaining there has actually been a similarly large rise in the array of poultry materiel for sale. Chicken real estate is a case in factor. It's also a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as various potential fowl real estate professionals market a selection of lodging declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate requirements. Commonly the cost looks attractive, the house looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive and awful cages flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail appeared. The result was nothing but a costly stack of fire wood and a tiny group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Hatching in Orwell, Vermont
More often than not these standardized models are built of rapid grown up lumber - come the very first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking occupants. The initial warm day indicates the timber dries out and also fractures, the felt roofing system bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their when appealing apartment however because the hovel is now a haven for, and most likely abounding, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly suit 4 big chickens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big area and the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the breed you keep, then the main needs of real estate come down to three factors which will certainly specify the variety of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many types of chicken will perch when they visit roost at night, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off edges so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box access as chickens will certainly likewise naturally look for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce one of the most poo) resulting in dirtied eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the floor of your home that leg injuries could happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny breeds this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in the house they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably your home ought to have a least one nest box for every single three birds as well as these must be off the ground and in the darkest location of the house. Your home ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Realize, ventilation deals with the concept of warm air leaving with a high void drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on other walls of your house and at the exact same level, this is just what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, however you ought to additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a free range bird is (and let's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some hens at home is possibly enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m made even. Take a close look at a few of the bargain residences - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, correct air flow and sufficient nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, yet 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 just what you spend for". You could think you've got hold of a deal, however you and your group could rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and it will certainly last for a couple of decades, if not longer provided the correct treatment. In the end your poultry and your poultry keeping experience will certainly be much the better for it.for sale chickens
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Jeffersonville, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Gilman, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Monkton, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in East Arlington, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Florence, Vermont