Chicken Coops for Sale in Longview, Washington
Chicken Coops for Sale in Longview, Washington
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 Designs in Longview, Washington
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Longview Washington" 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 Longview Washington chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Longview, Washington With the big boost in chicken keeping there has been a just as huge surge in the range of chicken materiel for sale. Fowl real estate is a situation in point. It's additionally a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as numerous prospective chicken housing specialists market an array of holiday accommodation claiming to be the optimal remedy to your chicken real estate needs. Often the cost looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks desirable, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are several cheap and also awful cages flooding the market. I know this as I've examined a variety of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed pail showed up. The outcome was just a pricey heap of firewood as well as a little group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Kits For Sale in Longview, Washington
Usually these mass produced versions are built of rapid grown up lumber - come the very first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that won't shut, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The first cozy day implies the wood dries out and splits, the really felt roofing bubbles and also boils, and come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their when desirable home however because the hovel is currently a haven for, and also probably crawling with, the chicken caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would suit 4 big chickens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you entrusted? A number of hinges and also some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to four birds need to cost you approximately ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Thinking you are varying your birds in a large space and the pop opening door allows sufficient for the type you maintain, then the main requirements of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly define the number of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also air flow. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits easily on it. The perch must be above the nest box entry as chickens will likewise naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) resulting in soiled eggs the following day. They should not however be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries can take place when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little types this is certainly much less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in the house they must be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on 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 three birds and these should be off the ground as well as in the darkest location of your home. The house ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every evening, also in the coldest of weather. Be aware, air flow works on the concept of warm air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a set of openings on opposite wall surfaces of the house as well as at the very same degree, this is what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected after that the factors above are still real, but you need to additionally think about the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a totally free range bird is (and also let's face it, among the inspirations for keeping some chickens at home is perhaps boosted or much better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the deal houses - it could well be your house has the appropriate perches, right air flow as well as enough nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? And so as the claiming goes, "you obtain just what you pay for". You could think you've got hold of a bargain, but you as well as your flock could rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house as well as it will certainly last for a few decades, if not longer offered the proper treatment. In the long run your chicken as well as your fowl maintaining experience will certainly be considerably the far better for it.chick build
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