Chicken Coops for Sale in Burnsville, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Burnsville, West Virginia
Transform Your Little Tikes Playhouse into a Chicken Coop
When I started pestering my husband about chickens (again), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. He did not want to spend a bunch of money and time on the construction of a suitable coop. We’d already been down the road of improper chicken housing before, and it wasn’t a road that either of us wanted to travel again. But I really, REALLY wanted to give chicken keeping another try. And I thought that with a little bit of forethought, we could eliminate the challenges we ran into before. For starters, the birds would need enough space. And the coop would need to be easy to clean. And most importantly, the coop would need to be secure. Nothing like coming home to find your chickens walking along the 6′ high wall that surrounds your yard! But to construct this type of set up from scratch would cost quite a bit of money in materials, not to mention all the time and sweat it would take for the hubs to actually BUILD the thing.
**This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links. That means that purchases made through my site will provide me with a small commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help to keep Homespun Sprout up and running.
So then I started scouring the internet trying to find the best deal on a “coop in a box”. I had my eye on but the price tag was a bit hefty. (It’s actually on sale for 58% off right now if you happen to be in the market for a pre-fabricated coop!) Not only was the hubs not excited about building a chicken coop, he also wasn’t excited about the idea of another “thing” in the yard. Our yard was already overrun with toys, bikes, gardening tools, a composter, and our very well-loved Little Tikes Playhouse. So as I sat in the yard one spring evening watching the kids play with everything BUT the playhouse, I got to thinking… Why couldn’t we just turn the playhouse into a chicken coop?!?! I didn’t tell hubs about the idea right away. Instead, I began looking at the structure of the playhouse to see if my idea would even work. Guys, I swear, this thing was MADE to become a chicken coop! It had everything we needed! The house is large enough for me to walk inside to rake it out, it has plenty of space for a nesting box, waterer, food, and a roosting bar. And it even came with a little cut out section near the floor (picture a doggy door) so the chickens could access the run we built behind it! I sketched out an idea of the modifications that we would need to make, and I presented my idea to the hubs. Guess what? He went for it! It was PERFECT. The structure was already built. We wouldn’t have to add another “thing” to our already tiny yard, and the best part? It’s totally incognito. No one would EVER suspect chickens were living in the playhouse! That night, I ordered our chicks! So how did we transform the playhouse? Well, let’s take a tour, shall we?
The first thing we did was cover all the openings with garden wire. Hubs had a roll of this laying around from some other project. He used drywall screws to attach the wire to the windows. The coop actually stayed like this for a while. While the chicks were still small, it was best for them to be confined to a smaller space, so not having a run wasn’t an issue.
Next the hubs built the run. You can see the “doggy door” in the bottom left corner…this is how the chickens get in and out of the house. The run is a pretty simple A-frame structure made out of 1″x 1″ pine pieces. The frame was made in sections and the wire was screwed on to each section as it was assembled. The top of the run lifts up so I can climb in and rake out the poo. I just prop it open with an upside down rake and jump on in.
The corners are all secured with these nifty . And the whole top piece is attached to the frame with some thin chains that act as a hinge. Here is a picture of the chains.
The brown plastic covering you see on this window is actually the cover to our sand and water table. The hubs cut it to fit over the largest window to break some of the wind in the winter. He used more drywall screws to attach it to the house.
Inside the coop, we attached a roosting bar (made out of an old broom handle) to the side of the house using a simple scrap of wood to attach it.
Here is a look at one side of the roosting bar. The other side just sits on the “mantle” inside the house.
My favorite part about the coop is the nesting box. Hubs attached a recycling bin to the wall using a couple brackets. It’s the PERFECT size for a comfy chicken laying box. And it’s up high so there’s a little privacy. We did cut it down a bit…chickens are not very bright creatures…they were afraid to go inside when the lip of the box was up higher.
The is hung from the ceiling by a thin chain (to keep the birds from standing on it), and the just sits on the floor. The set up is working BRILLIANTLY for us. The birds are happy and laying an egg per chicken per day (even though it’s winter), and it is all super easy to care for. The best part is that we were able to make this transformation for a whopping $46. I can’t say enough about how awesome chicken are…I’m pretty sure my kiddos would agree! Think you might transform your little tikes playhouse into a chicken coop?
Here is the complete list of materials and tools we used to make our playhouse into a chicken coop. Our chickens have been living in the coop for 8 months, and it’s still holding up great!
Hardware
- , to secure wire to playhouse
- to secure wire to wood frame
- to hang feeder from inside coop
Tools
- – for cutting the wire
- (for pounding staples)
- for cutting 1 1/2″ pieces of wood
Chicken Coop Amazon in Burnsville, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Burnsville West 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 Burnsville West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Burnsville, West Virginia With the huge rise in chicken maintaining there has been an equally big increase in the array of poultry paraphernalia for sale. Poultry housing is an instance in point. It's additionally a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as different prospective chicken real estate professionals peddle a selection of accommodation claiming to be the ideal option to your chicken real estate needs. Often the rate looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Surely they know a professional chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and also horrible coops swamping the market. I understand this as I've tested a variety of them in the area, and also seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket appeared. The outcome was just a pricey heap of firewood and a small group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Feeder in Burnsville, West Virginia
More often than not these mass produced models are created of fast grown wood - come the initial drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a doorway that won't shut, or tearing the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking citizens. The very first cozy day means the wood dries and cracks, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not because of their disappointment at the decrease of their as soon as eye-catching residential property however since the hovel is now a haven for, and also probably abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit four large chickens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A good coop for thee to four birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this can rely on whether you choose for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Presuming you are varying your birds in a big space and also the pop hole door allows enough for the breed you keep, after that the major needs of real estate boil down to three factors which will define the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. A lot of breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch needs to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot sits conveniently on it. The perch needs to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally normally seek the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the following day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could possibly happen when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in little types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is set up in the house they must be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably the house should have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these ought to be off the ground and in the darkest location of your home. Your house should have sufficient air flow: without it after that condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the chilliest of weather condition. Be aware, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on other walls of the house and at the exact same degree, 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 should additionally take into consideration the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful equipping thickness for a free variety bird is (as well as allow's encounter it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens in your home is perhaps boosted or better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m settled. Take a close check out a few of the bargain homes - it could well be the house has the ideal perches, appropriate air flow and sufficient nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the stating goes, "you get what you spend for". You might assume you've grabbed a deal, however you and also your group could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the appropriate house as well as it will certainly last for a few decades, if not longer provided the proper therapy. Eventually your fowl and your fowl keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the far better for it.for sale plans
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Borderland, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Bim, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Big Run, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Alum Bridge, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Beverly, West Virginia