Chicken Coops for Sale in Four States, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Four States, West Virginia
Chicken Tractors vs Chicken Coops
A lot of people do not seem to know this but are also chicken houses. The only real difference between the two is that chicken tractors can be moved from place to place and a chicken house is fixed in one place. You can have both if you have the means and the space in your yard, but either will do to house your chicken flock, provided they all fit with plenty of room to move. If you are not too familiar with raising chickens and keeping hens, it wouldn’t be any wonder if you didn’t immediately realise this difference.
A fixed chicken house or chicken coop
Planning ahead
But now knowing that there is a difference between the two, it will be easier for you to plan how you’re going to keep your chickens housed. Especially if you are planning to raise your very own chickens soon, but don’t actually have them yet, you have the chance to look around and see if you can pick up something pre-loved (second hand!) or even modify something to suit your yard space and the number and types of chickens that you’re planning to keep. A purpose built chicken house or chicken tractor will probably suit best, but other types of small to medium animal enclosures could work equally well. It’s all an individual choice, really.
Chicken tractor plans
If you have been searching for different types of chicken tractor plans online, you will have seen a great variety of chicken tractor designs. While most may look similar to each other, there will also be some that have been made with a great deal of creativity. Some of those designs are so pretty that people cannot help but buy them or have them made. Sometimes, people attempt to make chicken tractors themselves too. This may or may not be successful depending on how gifted the individual is in carpentry and handiwork…but, hey, if it keeps the chickens in and safe and dry and warm, and the predators out, does it really matter?
What Are Chicken Tractors For?
All round protection
Depending on how big the tractor is, the chickens are free to roam around the enclosed space with plenty of room to move. This really is beneficial especially if there are some things around your yard area that you would like to protect from your chickens. For instance, if you have some plants that will be destroyed if pecked by chickens, if you have garden mulch in your garden beds (the chickens will rearrange that for you…) or if you have neighbors who keep a vegetable patch and don’t take kindly to your chickens helping themselves.
Largely, though, the chicken tractor is to protect the chickens from the environment as well – they can get through holes in fences and potentially fall foul of dogs, and it’s not unusual for a neighborhood dog to run loose and have a bit of sport with an unsuspecting chicken. Chickens and traffic don’t mix and if you live in a fairly rural area, foxes love a bit of chicken for dinner. If any of these situations sound like you, you can always house your flock in a decent sized chicken tractor so that they can roam happily, but not to the point when they can reach treasured plants or be in danger.
A sustainable approach
One benefit of the chicken tractor as compared to the chicken coop is that it is movable and that you do not need to build a floor for underneath your chickens. This also means that you do not have to exert more effort in maintaining the floors of the chicken house – like cleaning and mending or maintaining. The ground will be the floor and all their droppings will serve as fertilizer. This does not mean though that you can let their tractor stay rooted in just one place. While the area may provide enough entertainment for your chickens for a short while, there will come a time when you would need to move them to another area with fresh ground to peck and to let the original spot recover. The chicken scratchings will also uproot and kill off any grass they live on in a fairly short time, so moving the tractor regularly is the best approach.
Potential health benefits
According to research, chickens that are living in tractors may be able to thrive better than those who are in cages because they have enough access to the outside world and they are not being deprived of their daily needs. While those in cages may also have food and water, there are times when they will not be able to receive enough sunlight. There are also instances when they cannot move properly, if their cage isn’t large enough, which means that they will not be getting enough exercise. A chicken tractor is a great improvement on this.
More Benefits of Chicken Tractors
Other than the obvious benefits already described above, it has been said that chicken tractors will potentially allow hens to make their own nests or areas where they will choose to lay their eggs. But there are certainly advantages to have “manmade” nesting boxes available where hens can lay their eggs. This means that the layout can be designed so that you will be able to gather eggs more easily instead of trying to find the eggs in the various different places where your chickens might have hidden them. (Two guesses where the idea of the Egg Hunt fiasco we go through at Easter Time came from!)
Is it okay if your chickens are pets?
This is not at all unusual to find; there are people who are not just keeping chickens for their eggs, fertilizer or other reasons we won’t mention in their earshot. Plenty of people like to keep backyard chickens because they are simply just great pets – they are not that fussy, not hard to look after and aren’t too messy if your yard isn’t too perfectly manicured.
Once a chicken has come to the end of its egg-laying career, it seems only fair to let it live its life out in peace and health and happiness in it’s own home sweet home! Although some people that have never known the joys being a chicken owner will find it a bit weird, a sweet creature that demands little, appreciates all, takes up little space and gives what it can is a great thing to have around (wouldn’t you agree?).
Your backyard chickens will adapt happily to a chicken tractor or a chicken house equally well. It’s really only a question of what will best suit your needs to be able to live with them in your yard with minimum fuss and maximum practicality.
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Chicken Coop Setup in Four States, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Four States 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 Four States West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Four States, West Virginia With the massive increase in chicken maintaining there has been a just as big surge in the range of fowl materiel for sale. Fowl real estate is a proceedings in factor. It's also a classic instance of the great old bandwagon being got on as different prospective fowl housing specialists market a variety of lodging asserting to be the suitable option to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the price looks attractive, your diy-chicken-coop-planshome looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut family members standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Undoubtedly they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous affordable as well as awful coops swamping the marketplace. I recognize this as I've examined a variety of them in the field, and also seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed pail appeared. The result was nothing but a costly pile of fire wood as well as a small group of bemused and currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Large in Four States, West Virginia
Generally these mass produced designs are constructed of fast grown up hardwood - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that will not close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The very first cozy day means the timber dries out and also splits, the felt roofing bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not due to their dissatisfaction at the decline of their once eye-catching apartment but considering that the hovel is now a place for, and also possibly crawling with, the fowl keeper's bane, red mite. Add that it said on the blurb that it would suit 4 large hens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and exactly what are you left with? A number of joints and some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to 4 birds should cost you around ₤ 300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large area as well as the pop opening doorway is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the primary needs of housing come down to 3 points which will define the variety of birds your house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. Many breeds of chicken will perch when they visit roost during the night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch should be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly likewise naturally look for the acme to perch. A perch less than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce the most poo) bring about soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't nevertheless be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries can take place when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in your house they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors yet are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably your house should have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and also these need to be off the ground as well as in the darkest area of your home. Your house should have appropriate air flow: without it then condensation will certainly develop every night, even in the coldest of weather condition. Know, air flow deals with the concept of warm air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a set of holes on contrary wall surfaces of your home as well as at the exact same degree, this is exactly what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected then the factors above are still real, yet you must additionally think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a totally free range bird is (and let's face it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens at home is possibly enhanced or much better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close take a look at a few of the bargain homes - it could well be your house has the ideal perches, right ventilation and adequate nest boxes for a practical number 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 saying goes, "you get what you spend for". You may believe you've got a deal, however you and also your group might rue the day you did. Acquisition the right house as well as it will last for a few years, otherwise longer provided the appropriate treatment. In the end your fowl as well as your chicken maintaining experience will be a lot the better for it.for sale for sale
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