Chicken Coops for Sale in Lena, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Lena, Wisconsin
How to Choose the Right Chicken Coop
With Spring well underway, many of us are doing a little spring cleaning and preparing for some new chicks! Maybe it’s time for a new coop? Here are some basic tips for choosing the right coop for your flock and how to take care of it so you can be sure your chickens and other fowl are happy and healthy.
A chicken coop can have many purposes. It can be as simple as a place to roost at night if your flock is free range, or, if you prefer to keep your flock in one place, serves as their all-inclusive home with room for roosting, exercise, feeding, and laying eggs. There are many different designs and layouts to choose from when picking out a coop. You can buy one pre-made, or find instructions for building your own. Here are some factors to consider when choosing your flock’s home:
- Key Features There are a few basic features you’ll want for any chicken coop:
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Roosting bars don’t have to be fancy, and they’ll give your hens a safe place to sleep at night. Like most birds, chickens, turkeys, and other types of fowl prefer sleeping in an elevated area in order to stay safe from predators. Roosting bars will provide a place for your hens to perch at night so they can sleep soundly.
- A nesting box is a great way to encourage your hens to lay their eggs in a specific spot. If the coop you own doesn’t have built-in boxes, milk crates are a great substitute!
- Dispensers are useful for keeping food and water clean. There are plenty of styles you can buy, or you can make them yourself. Keep food and water dispensers slightly elevated, a few inches off the ground, in order to prevent dirt from getting in. If you have young chicks in your coop, remember to make sure the food and water are accessible, and that they are not at risk of getting caught in the water dish and drowning.
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- Space
Our ladies are free range during the day, so they don’t need much space in their coop. Having enough space is important for your coop if you want to avoid fighting. The average recommendation is a minimum of 1-2 square feet per bird, and much more if your flock remains in the coop 24/7. If your flock is not given enough space, it won’t be long before you notice the signs. Look for birds pecking at one another and birds with missing feathers. Bullying is a common side effect when there isn’t enough room to go around. If you do notice signs of bullying in your flock, separate the bullied birds until they are better and increase the amount of space in your coop.
- Safety There are a number of things that might affect your flock’s safety, whether it’s predators or the elements. Protect your flock from extreme temperatures by ensuring that your coop is well insulated and also well ventilated to allow proper airflow. There are a number of things you can do each year to prepare your flock for winter, and in the summer months they need access to fresh air and water in order to keep cool. As for predators, a properly enclosed coop will keep out larger animals, and roosting bars will allow your birds to stay at a safe height while they sleep.
- Convenience There are plenty of things to think about for your hens when choosing the right coop, but don’t forget about yourself! A good coop will be easily accessible so that you can gather eggs, change out food and water, and clean the coop without much hassle. Many coops will have larger doors or hatches that allow you better access inside the coop, and can be locked up when you are finished.
Basic Coop Care Once you’ve chosen the right coop, maintaining it is your next step. Be sure to place your coop in an area that will stay dry so you and your flock won’t have to deal with mud and puddles after some wet weather. Give your hens a supply of hay or straw so they can keep warm and build nests, and provide an area with clean dust or sand that will allow your birds to clean themselves and prevent mites. Change out dirty straw regularly, and clean out any droppings before they build up too much. Many coops are designed so that droppings can be removed easily, but in our lean-to coop we use a rake to pull them out. Cleaning up droppings and old food and keeping the coop dry will prevent mold and keep out bugs and other pests.
The right coop will ensure the health and safety of your backyard flock!
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Chicken Coop Blueprints in Lena, Wisconsin
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Lena Wisconsin" 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 Lena Wisconsin chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Lena, Wisconsin With the substantial rise in chicken maintaining there has actually been an equally big increase in the range of chicken stuff for sale. Poultry real estate is an instance in factor. It's likewise a timeless instance of the good old bandwagon being got on as different potential fowl housing professionals peddle a selection of cottage claiming to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing requirements. Often the rate looks appealing, your house looks appealing, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Certainly they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical and also unpleasant coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've tested a number of them in the area, and seen a ewe run directly via one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was just an expensive pile of firewood as well as a tiny group of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Designs in Lena, Wisconsin
Generally these mass produced models are constructed of rapid grown up lumber - come the first decline of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a doorway that won't shut, or tearing the doorway furnishings off in a vain attempt to release the squawking residents. The first cozy day means the lumber dries as well as cracks, the really felt roof covering bubbles and boils, and also come nightfall the chickens choose not to enter. This is not because of their frustration at the decrease of their when appealing property but because the hovel is currently a place for, and also most likely crawling with, the fowl caretaker's nemesis, red mite. Add the fact that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit 4 huge hens when that stocking thickness was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as what are you left with? A number of hinges as well as some kindling. A respectable coop for thee to four birds must cost you around ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a complimentary standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are ranging your birds in a large room and also the pop hole door is big sufficient for the type you maintain, after that the major needs of real estate boil down to three points which will certainly specify the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and also ventilation. Many breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they go to roost during the night, this perch needs to ideally be 5-8cm vast with smoothed off sides so the foot rests easily on it. The perch ought to be more than the nest box entrance as chickens will additionally normally look for the acme to perch. A perch lower than that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is by the way when they generate the most poo) causing stained eggs the following day. They should not nonetheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries might take place when the bird comes down in the early morning. Chickens need regarding 20cm of perch each (in little types this is clearly much less), plus if greater than one perch is set up in your house they need to be more than 30cm apart. They will certainly 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 ought to have a least one nest box for every 3 birds and also these need to be off the ground and in the darkest area of your house. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly develop every evening, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, ventilation works on the concept of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower void - it's not a set of openings on opposite walls of your house as well as at the exact same degree, this is just what's called a draft. If you have a house with a run affixed then the factors above are still true, but you must additionally think about the run size. The EU optimum legal equipping thickness for a cost-free range bird is (and let's encounter it, among the motivations for maintaining some hens in your home is possibly improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird each 4m made even. Take a close check out a few of the deal houses - it could well be your home has the appropriate perches, correct ventilation and also adequate nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, yet will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? Therefore as the saying goes, "you get exactly what you pay for". You might believe you've grabbed a bargain, yet you and also your flock can rue the day you did. Acquisition the appropriate house and also it will certainly last for a couple of decades, otherwise longer given the proper therapy. Ultimately your chicken as well as your fowl keeping experience will certainly be considerably the much better for it.chickens coops
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