Chicken Coops for Sale in Kenova, West Virginia
Chicken Coops for Sale in Kenova, West Virginia
Metal Siding on Chicken Coops
My chicken coops have always had metal roofs, and now I’m trying out metal siding, on the grounds that I want anything I build to last 20 years without maintenance, and the exterior plywood I’ve been using doesn’t deliver that.
[Update: Seven years after writing this blog post, the corrugated metal walls are holding up well. Seven years is long enough for plywood walls to start falling to pieces, but the metal walls are holding up well, with only a bit of rust here and there.]
One of my old pasture houses, with a 15-year-old metal roof and 7-year-old metal siding.
Does Metal Promote Condensation and Wetness?
People will tell you that metal siding sweats, because of condensation. This is true if the inside of the house is warmer than the outside, since moisture from the warm house will condense on the cold walls and ceiling. But it’s not about metal vs. wood, since condensation forms on any kind of roof or wall, no matter what it’s made of. In marginal cases, it’s more visible on metal because it’s 100% non-absorbent.
A Fresh-Air House is a Dry House
But you can dodge the problem with a fresh-air poultry house. If you add enough ventilation, the inside of the house is just as cold as the outside, and you get no condensation. My metal roofs don’t have condensation unless there’s snow on the roof and temperatures are above freezing. The rest of the time, my highly ventilated houses have dry ceilings and walls.
Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, by Prince T. Woods. Reprinted by me!
This is one of the main points of , the chicken-coop book I’ve republished (check out the if you haven’t already). It focuses on the advantage of well-ventilated houses, a concept that still needs to be repeated constantly today. You won’t read anything about metal walls or roofs in this book, since it predates their use, but it’s a treasure trove in other ways.
You can also prevent condensation with insulation, but I don’t do that.
Can you really prevent damp chicken houses through ventilation alone? Well, it works for me, and I live in Oregon, which has a famously wet climate!
Installing Corrugated Sheet Metal Walls
Back to the construction project. In keeping with my other rule of construction (never use a saw when you can buy stuff that’s already the right size), I ignored my existing stock of 10-foot metal roofing and obtained some cheap 8-foot corrugated roofing from Home Depot. My chicken houses are 8×8 feet.
Karen and I banged these sheets onto a couple of sides of a chicken house where the old OSB siding was falling to pieces. We used roofing screws. These are hex drive screws with neoprene washers. We used to use roofing nails, but they pull loose too easily and we hate having roofing panels flapping loose in the breeze! And using power tools instead of a hammer keeps my shoulders and back from seizing up. I bang the screw in a short way with a hammer, then drive it home with a cordless drill.
I’m told that roofing screws have three times the holding power of nails.
These panels went on very quickly, and if they ever rust through (which they will, at the bottom edges anyway, if I allow chicken manure to pile up against them), I can take the screws out and replace them just as easily.
So far, so good. The shiny metal really brightens up the interior of the chicken house, and because it’s non-porous, it provides no place for roost mites to accumulate.
Cheap Roofing is Good Enough
Plain old “ripple metal” (corrugated steel) is less rigid than V-channel roofing, but it’s proven to be stiff enough, even for a house that gets dragged around behind a tractor, which can put all sorts of stresses on it, especially if it gets hung up on holes and bumps along the way. So far, so good. That means that, so far, the cheapest possible corrugated metal has been perfectly adequate.
Watch out for translucent corrugated fiberglass. In my experience, it’s not very strong and becomes increasingly brittle over time. I’m sure it has its uses, but don’t think of it as being structural in the way that plywood and corrugated steel are.
You Don’t Have to Settle for Ugly
Of course, you can build a much prettier house with metal roofing with baked-enamel finishes in designer colors, and you should probably do this if you don’t want a silver house, since it’s hard to get paint to stick to galvanized steel. While I’m always looking for the cheapest, longest-lasting, easiest-to-build designs, there are plenty of other ways of approaching the problem of chicken-coop design.
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Chicken Coop On Wheels in Kenova, West Virginia
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Kenova 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 Kenova West Virginia chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Kenova, West Virginia With the big boost in chicken maintaining there has actually been a similarly large surge in the variety of chicken paraphernalia for sale. Chicken real estate is a case in point. It's additionally a classic instance of the great old bandwagon being got on as various potential poultry real estate experts pitch an array of holiday accommodation declaring to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the rate looks appealing, your house looks appealing, hell also the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Surely they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap as well as nasty coops flooding the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the area, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket showed up. The outcome was just an expensive pile of fire wood and also a tiny group of bemused and also now homeless bantams.
Baby Chicks For Sale in Kenova, West Virginia
More often than not these mass produced models are constructed of quick grown hardwood - come the initial drop of rain they swell, leaving you either defending a doorway that will not close, or ripping the doorway furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm and comfortable day suggests the lumber dries out and splits, the felt roofing bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens refuse to enter. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their once desirable commercial property yet because the hovel is now a haven for, and also possibly abounding, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it claimed on the blurb that it would match four big hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also what are you entrusted? A couple of joints and some kindling. A good coop for thee to 4 birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could rely on whether you elect for a complimentary standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are varying your birds in a huge room as well as the pop opening door allows enough for the type you maintain, then the primary needs of real estate boil down to 3 points which will certainly specify the variety of birds your home will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. The majority of types of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost in the evening, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests comfortably on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box entry as chickens will also naturally seek the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they create the most poo) leading to stained eggs the following day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the flooring of your home that leg injuries might occur when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is obviously less), plus if greater than one perch is installed in your home they need to be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird ahead. Preferably the house needs to have a least one nest box for each 3 birds as well as these must be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. Your home must have appropriate ventilation: without it after that condensation will build up every night, also in the coldest of weather. Realize, air flow deals with the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving via a high space drawing cooler air in from a lower space - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of the house as well as at the very same degree, this is just what's known as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, but you ought to likewise think about the run dimension. The EU optimum lawful stocking thickness for a free variety bird is (as well as let's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some chickens in your home is possibly enhanced or better well-being) 2,500 birds each hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m settled. Take a close consider several of the bargain residences - it could well be your home has the best perches, appropriate ventilation and also enough nest boxes for an affordable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you get what you spend for". You may assume you've grabbed a deal, but you and also your group could possibly rue the day you did. Acquisition the best house as well as it will last for a few decades, if not longer provided the correct therapy. In the end your fowl and your fowl keeping encounter will be much the better for it.coop coop
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