Chicken Coops for Sale in Idamay, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Idamay, West Virginia
How To Set Up Your Chicken Coop
Often when people buy chickens from us they’ve never owned poultry before therefore I usually find myself explaining the basics of operating a healthy and effective coop. As I grew up on a farm much of it is second nature but many city folk are unsure of just whats involved. The easiest and quickest way to get the message across is to take them on a tour of our back section to see how everything in our coop has be arranged.
The important aspects I talk about are:
Feed …
Because chickens grow so fast I use larger feeders as soon as possible. If you are raising them from day one there are feeders available that have been designed to cover the first couple of weeks. After that one on an adjustable rope works well as its just a matter of raising the height from time to time as the chickens grow. To get the best results it needs to be kept high enough to be accessible but not too low as to allow litter and droppings to be scratched into it. As can be seen in the photo above an off cut of PVC down pipe with holes drilled through it works well as a cheap grit feeder. Commercial feeds normally have grit added however I wonder if its sufficient as our hens regularly go through a 2 kilo bag of crushed oyster shell.
Feeding guide …
Day old to 6 -8 weeks … chick starter crumbles. 8 – 14 weeks … pullet grower or similar. 14 weeks onward … regular chook feed. 18 – 20 weeks or just prior to the commencement of laying … oyster shell grit.
Don’t over do the kitchen scraps as the nutritional value from these is fairly low. If they are fed as a substitute for a properly balance diet egg production will suffer.
Water …
Its important to have a plentiful supply of good clean water at all times. Hens don’t drink much at anyone time but they do drink often and even more so during spring and summer when air temperatures increase. I always leave the coop door open when our hens free range as they can get cool water whenever they need it. Hens drinking dirty contaminated water from containers and puddles is a recipe for disease.
If its not clean enough for you to drink you shouldn’t give it to your hens.
As shown above I prefer to used a fixed water container as the hanging versions leak and spill water when knocked. Its easily removed for cleaning and is installed in such a way to prevent debris getting into it.
Perches …
Chickens have a natural instinct to perch therefore it important to provide good sturdy perches. The ones in our coup are about 5cm square and have the sharp edges taken off to make them more chicken friendly. Tree branches of a similar diameter also work well if they are reasonably straight. The perches shown above are approximately 50cm and 80cm above the floor however I set them at lower levels when I first introduce 3 to 4 week old chicks. They should be fixed securely to the coop walls whilst being easily removable for cleaning.
Even when I have day old chicks under lights I provide perches as its a habit that I want them to learn as soon as possible because it makes my job so much easier. There’s no space on my daily to do list for cleaning dirty nesting boxes and eggs. Perch space per bird should be about 20cm.
Without suitable perches hens will perch on what ever is handy namely nesting boxes, feeders and the like or they will crowd into a corner of a coop. The end result will be a hard mound of droppings which will ultimately end up in feathers on claws then into nesting boxes and subsequently onto eggs. Correctly positioned perches eliminates crowding, flighty hens, dirty eggs and ensures your hens will be more relaxed and manageable.
Like all females of the species they need to be pampered. My other half constantly reminds me that I pay more attention to our Flora’s that I do to her. Its not true of course !!
Nesting boxes …
For me keeping hens is all about egg production therefore when we I invested extra time and effort into creating workable nesting boxes.
- One nesting box for every 4 hens, wonder why sometimes as they all seem to lay in the same box.
- Easily accessible for me from the outside.
- Easily accessible for the hens from the inside.
- Removable for easy cleaning.
- Spacious … 40cm height x 40cm width x 40cm depth or thereabouts.
- Weather proof.
- 10cm lip at the front to keep shavings and eggs in.
When introducing young chickens I keep the boxes closed off until near the time when they will start laying. This is to ensure that they use the perches rather than sleeping in and fouling the boxes. As mentioned previously this means only one thing, dirty eggs.
Deep litter …
We use a deep litter system as it makes for easy maintenance and reduces the need to be continually cleaning chicken manure out of the coop. Simply put the floor is covered with a 10cm layer of untreated wood shavings which is raked over every few days. A more detailed explanation of this concept can be .
Access – easy and straight forward …
- Human sized entry, applicable if you need a large coop.
- Removing old litter is almost effortless, especially when I have to work the camera !
- Predator proof entry- exit.
A user friendly coop ensures that keeping hens doesn’t become just another unwanted chore so build or buy wisely.
Chicken Coop From Pallets in Idamay, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Idamay 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 Idamay West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Idamay, West Virginia With the substantial increase in chicken maintaining there has actually been a similarly big increase in the range of poultry materiel on sale. Chicken housing is an instance in factor. It's additionally a traditional instance of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as different prospective fowl real estate experts pitch a selection of lodging declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing requirements. Often the cost looks attractive, your house looks attractive, hell also the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they know a high quality chicken house when they see one? There are lots of affordable and also unpleasant coops swamping the market. I understand this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight via one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was nothing but an expensive stack of firewood and also a little flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Baby Chick Facts in Idamay, West Virginia
More often than not these standardized designs are built of rapid grown up timber - come the initial decline of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't shut, or tearing the door furniture off in a vain attempt to launch the squawking inhabitants. The initial cozy day indicates the timber dries out and also splits, the really felt roof bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not due to their frustration at the decrease of their as soon as desirable apartment yet because the hovel is currently a haven for, and also possibly abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add on that it said on the blurb that it would certainly suit four big chickens when that equipping thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as exactly what are you entrusted? A couple of hinges and some kindling. A suitable coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you around ₤ 300 though this can depend upon whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Assuming you are varying your birds in a big room as well as the pop hole door is big enough for the type you keep, then the major requirements of real estate come down to 3 factors which will define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes as well as air flow. A lot of types of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost at night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off sides so the foot sits pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be more than the nest box entry as chickens will certainly additionally naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they generate the most poo) leading to dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries could occur when the bird gets down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in small types this is clearly less), plus if more than one perch is mounted in the house they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will certainly hunker up with their next-door neighbors however are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Ideally the house ought to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these ought to be off the ground and also in the darkest area of your house. The house must have adequate ventilation: without it after that condensation will certainly develop every night, also in the coldest of weather. Understand, ventilation works with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving through a high space attracting cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of openings on other walls of your house as well as at the exact same level, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the points above are still real, yet you ought to also think about the run dimension. The EU maximum legal equipping thickness for a complimentary range bird is (as well as let's encounter it, among the motivations for maintaining some chickens in the house is potentially improved or much better welfare) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m squared. Take a close look at several of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the ideal perches, appropriate ventilation and also ample nest boxes for a practical variety of birds, however will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized item of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you obtain what you spend for". You may believe you've got a deal, however you and also your group could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and also it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer provided the correct treatment. In the long run your chicken as well as your chicken maintaining experience will certainly be much the much better for it.coop coop
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