Chicken Coops for Sale in Meadowview, Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Meadowview, Virginia
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 For 20 Chickens in Meadowview, Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Meadowview Virginia" 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 Meadowview Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Meadowview, Virginia With the massive increase in chicken keeping there has actually been a just as big increase in the range of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Fowl real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's likewise a classic instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as numerous potential chicken real estate experts market a variety of cottage declaring to be the suitable solution to your chicken real estate demands. Commonly the price looks eye-catching, your house looks eye-catching, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are many economical and also nasty coops swamping the market. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly through one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was just a costly pile of fire wood as well as a little group of bemused as well as currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Construction in Meadowview, Virginia
Typically these mass produced versions are created of rapid grown lumber - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking residents. The first cozy day suggests the wood dries as well as fractures, the felt roofing bubbles and also boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as appealing apartment yet since the hovel is currently a sanctuary for, and also most likely abounding, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would match 4 big hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and just what are you entrusted? A number of joints as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are ranging your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole doorway is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the primary requirements of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. The majority of types of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch ought to ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot rests conveniently on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box entry as chickens will certainly likewise normally look for the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) bring about stained eggs the following day. They should not nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries might take place when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your home they need to be more 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 in front. Ideally your home ought to have a the very least one nest box for every single 3 birds and also these should be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every evening, even in the chilliest of weather condition. Understand, air flow works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high void attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on other wall surfaces of your home as well as at the very same level, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed after that the points above are still true, however you must additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU maximum legal stocking thickness for a free range bird is (as well as let's face it, among the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in your home is perhaps enhanced or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m squared. Take a close look at several of the bargain homes - it could well be the house has the right perches, proper ventilation and adequate 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 invest the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you get just what you spend for". You might think you've grabbed a bargain, however you as well as your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house and it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer given the right therapy. Eventually your fowl and also your poultry maintaining encounter will be a lot the better for it.chick coops
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