Chicken Coops for Sale in Round Hill, Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Round Hill, Virginia
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 .
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Chicken Coop You Can Walk In in Round Hill, Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Round Hill 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 Round Hill Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Round Hill, Virginia With the huge rise in poultry maintaining there has actually been a similarly big rise in the array of fowl paraphernalia on sale. Poultry real estate is a case in factor. It's also a classic example of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous potential chicken housing specialists pitch a variety of lodging asserting to be the perfect solution to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the rate looks appealing, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell even the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Certainly they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous cheap and also awful coops flooding the marketplace. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the area, as well as seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was just a pricey pile of firewood and a tiny group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Run Ideas in Round Hill, Virginia
Generally these mass produced versions are created of quick grown up lumber - come the very first decline of rainfall they swell, leaving you either defending a door that won't shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking occupants. The first cozy day indicates the hardwood dries and also fractures, the really felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, as well as come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their when appealing property however because the hovel is now a place for, and possibly abounding, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would certainly match 4 big chickens when that equipping density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you elect for a cost-free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a huge space and the pop opening door allows enough for the type you keep, then the major needs of housing boil down to three factors which will define the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. A lot of breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch must preferably be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally normally try to find the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't however be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries could occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally your house needs 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 house should have ample ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the chilliest of climate. Understand, ventilation works with the concept of warm air leaving through a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on other walls of your home and at the exact same degree, this is what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, however you should additionally consider the run size. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a totally free range bird is (and also let's face it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is possibly improved or far better welfare) 2,500 birds each 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 home has the right perches, correct ventilation as well as adequate nest boxes for a reasonable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you get what you pay for". You could think you've grabbed a deal, yet you as well as your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and it will last for a few years, otherwise longer provided the right therapy. In the long run your poultry as well as your fowl maintaining encounter will be a lot the much better for it.chick for sale
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