Chicken Coops for Sale in Quechee, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Quechee, Vermont
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™
Share this:
Like this:
Chicken Coop Plans For 20 Chickens in Quechee, Vermont
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Quechee 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 Quechee Vermont chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Quechee, Vermont With the massive increase in chicken maintaining there has been a similarly large surge in the array of poultry materiel for sale. Poultry housing is a situation in factor. It's also a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous prospective chicken real estate professionals peddle an array of holiday accommodation asserting to be the ideal option to your chicken housing demands. Frequently the rate looks appealing, your house looks eye-catching, heck also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they understand a professional chicken house when they see one? There are lots of inexpensive and also awful coops flooding the marketplace. I recognize this as I've tested a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was just a costly heap of fire wood and a small group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop For Sale in Quechee, Vermont
Usually these standardized models are created of quick grown up wood - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that will not shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The initial warm and comfortable day suggests the wood dries and also fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once desirable building but due to the fact that the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, as well as probably abounding, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add on the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit 4 big hens when that equipping density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A few hinges and also some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run connected. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big space and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, then the major needs of real estate come down to three points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Most types of chicken will perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off edges so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly additionally normally search for the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will certainly 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 list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries might happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in the house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house should have a least one nest box for every single 3 birds and also these ought to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your house needs to have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will develop every evening, even in the chilliest of climate. Be aware, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced gap - it's not a collection of holes on contrary walls of your home and at the same level, this is just what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still real, yet you need to likewise take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a free range bird is (and also allow's encounter it, among the motivations for keeping some hens in the house is potentially improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m made even. Take a close look at several of the deal residences - it could well be the house has the right perches, right air flow as well as sufficient nest boxes for a sensible number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you get just what you spend for". You may believe you've got a deal, but you as well as your flock might rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer offered the correct treatment. Ultimately your fowl and your fowl maintaining experience will be considerably the far better for it.for sale build
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Eden, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Franklin, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Ludlow, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Brattleboro, Vermont
Chicken Coops for Sale in Chittenden, Vermont