Chicken Coops for Sale in Elk Garden, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Elk Garden, West Virginia
Chicken Coop Building Plans – 5 Tips to Consider Before Building A Coop for Your Chickens
The skills needed to build a basic chicken coop are within the abilities of most people. It is not the kind of carpentry that requires an expert finish, although having it end up reasonably square with itself is preferable (unless you are aiming for a Dr Seuss look). With smaller coops you don’t even have to worry about that too much, attempting a larger coop such as a big shed to house 50 or more chickens is where those kinds of things become most important, but a nice little coop is well within the building skills of most people. If you can put up a cupboard, you can probably build a chicken coop.
There are a few considerations though before you jump into it.
- Your time – If your chickens are already ordered and on their way then you may not have time to build a coop. Even a small coop is probably going to need the weekend to build – but then again, if it is that urgent, building may be your only option as ordering a coop would probably be too late (and if you order a flat pack coop you still will have to put it together anyway). If you don’t have much time but want to be involved in designing and building your own coop (or adapting a coop design) then perhaps enrolling a friend who is good at diy or hiring a carpenter to work from your chosen plans would be a good compromise.
- Your abilities – If you can handle a hammer, a saw, a drill, and a paint brush, you can probably build a chicken coop. You will find it much easier if you have done some kind of diy before. If your first ever carpentry project is a chicken coop, you may take to it like a duck to water (it happens) and build a beautiful chicken coop you are proud of and that looks great in the garden, but try to be a bit conservative with your ambitions just in case.
- Your tools – Tools are expensive so you should consider what tools you may need to purchase (or borrow) to supplement any that you may already have. With a lot of the smaller coop designs you will basically be banging together pieces of wood and sticking on small holed galvinised steel wire to a frame for the run (‘chicken wire’ will keep your chickens in but is not strong enough to keep out any serious predators). So apart from cutting the wood to size (and it may be possible to order wood cut to the sizes you want at your store) you would need at the very least a hammer, selection of nails/staples and wire cutters. You should probably have a tape measure, speed square, and a level, too. I have known people build a coop using just a nail gun for the wooden framing and a staple gun to fix the wire to it – it won’t be a big fancy ‘this is better than my house’ type of coop, but still, if it keeps the chickens dry and safe from predators that really is all that matters.
One of the ‘real’ chicken coop plans from the collection.
- Your blueprints – You’ll find blueprints so rudimentary that they don’t even give specific lengths and widths, and some so incredibly complex they require an advanced degree in architecture. There are many free coop designs available on the web which can be great for getting ideas from and also may be something you can use to help if you want to come up with your own design (squared graph paper can be helpful for drawing out ideas). There are also plans which can be purchased and are usually around the $10-$30 range for a single plan. The benefit of these is that they usually go into much greater details than the free ones and will also include helpful details such as the measurements and materials lists. A collection of can also give you ideas and the basis for your own plan, even if you don’t want to follow one exactly – and as you get multiple plans included it can also help you pick and choose bits you like and in the future when you want to upgrade/expand (often your first chicken coop will not be your last!) you will have other coop designs already on hand. Most purchased ones include the materials list and measurements etc. as you might expect but what I particularly like about that collection is that they are real coops that have actually been used – a lot of others I have seen on the web are just cartoon drawings of what it ‘might’ look like. Having said that though if you do like a more cartoony feel to your designs then there is another collection of blueprints you . There aren’t quite as many included, and it is a little bit more expensive, but there are a few extra bonus ebooks on chicken care thrown in which the first collection doesn’t have. Between the two there are more than 15 designs so there is quite a few to choose from.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to buy all your materials brand new. You may be able to find scrap lumber or things like roofing shingles from builders yards, carpentry shops, hardware stores and classified ads. By doing a bit of diy and building your own coop and being a little bit flexible with the design and materials list so you can make use of any free or cheap supplies you can often benefit from quite big savings when compared with a bought coop.
Chicken Coop Small in Elk Garden, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Elk Garden 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 Elk Garden West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Elk Garden, West Virginia With the massive increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been a just as big increase in the range of fowl materiel for sale. Poultry real estate is a situation in point. It's additionally a traditional instance of the excellent old bandwagon being got on as numerous prospective chicken real estate professionals pitch a selection of cottage declaring to be the suitable option to your chicken housing needs. Frequently the cost looks eye-catching, your house looks appealing, heck also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look appealing. Definitely they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous low-cost and also unpleasant cages flooding the marketplace. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed pail appeared. The result was nothing but a costly pile of fire wood and a little group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Boxes in Elk Garden, West Virginia
Typically these mass produced versions are built of quick grown up hardwood - come the first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a doorway that will not shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day indicates the hardwood dries and also fractures, the really felt roofing system bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to go in. This is not because of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once attractive home however because the hovel is currently a place for, and also possibly abounding, the poultry keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would fit 4 huge chickens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also exactly what are you entrusted? A few joints as well as some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run affixed. Assuming you are varying your birds in a huge room and the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the type you keep, then the main demands of housing come down to 3 factors which will certainly specify the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch must be higher than the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also naturally search for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create one of the most poo) leading to stained eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries might happen when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens require concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly 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 but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your house needs to have a least one nest box for every single three birds and also these need to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house ought to have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly build up every night, also in the coldest of climate. Be aware, air flow deals with the concept of cozy air leaving via a high gap drawing cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on opposite walls of your house and at the exact same degree, this is exactly what's called a draught. If you have a house with a run attached after that the factors above are still true, but you must likewise think about the run dimension. The EU optimum legal equipping density for a complimentary variety bird is (and also let's encounter it, one of the inspirations for keeping some chickens in the house is possibly enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close consider a few of the deal residences - it could well be your home has the best perches, right ventilation and also sufficient nest boxes for a sensible variety of birds, yet 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 what you spend for". You might assume you've grabbed a bargain, yet you and your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the ideal house and also it will last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the correct therapy. Ultimately your chicken as well as your chicken keeping experience will certainly be a lot the much better for it.chicken for sale
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Blacksville, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Bloomery, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Bradley, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Camden On Gauley, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Drennen, West Virginia