Chicken Coops for Sale in Springfield, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Springfield, Wisconsin
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.
More from my site
Chicken Coop Easy To Clean in Springfield, Wisconsin
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in Springfield 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 Springfield Wisconsin chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in Springfield, Wisconsin With the huge boost in chicken keeping there has actually been an equally huge rise in the variety of poultry materiel on sale. Fowl housing is a proceedings in point. It's additionally a timeless instance of the excellent old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous would-be chicken real estate experts market an array of lodging declaring to be the suitable solution to your chicken housing requirements. Usually the price looks appealing, your house looks desirable, hell even the clean-cut household standing there feeding the chickens look desirable. Definitely they know a top quality chicken house when they see one? There are several economical as well as nasty coops flooding the market. I understand this as I've checked a number of them in the field, as well as seen a ewe run directly with one when the feed bucket showed up. The result was nothing but an expensive pile of firewood and also a tiny flock of bemused and also currently homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Large in Springfield, Wisconsin
Generally these mass produced versions are created of rapid grown up lumber - come the first decrease of rain they swell, leaving you either fortifying a door that won't shut, or ripping the door furnishings off in a vain effort to release the squawking residents. The very first cozy day implies the timber dries and also fractures, the really felt roofing bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the chickens refuse to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decline of their as soon as attractive home yet due to the fact that the hovel is now a sanctuary for, as well as most likely abounding, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it stated on the blurb that it would certainly fit four huge hens when that equipping thickness was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, as well as just what are you left with? A few hinges and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to 4 birds ought to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend on whether you elect for a totally free standing house or one with a run connected. Thinking you are varying your birds in a big room and the pop opening door is big sufficient for the breed you keep, after that the main demands of housing boil down to three factors which will certainly specify the number of birds the house will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and air flow. Many types of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch ought to preferably be 5-8cm broad with smoothed off edges so the foot rests easily on it. The perch ought to be above the nest box access as chickens will certainly additionally naturally seek the highest point to perch. A perch below that will certainly have the birds roosting in the nest box over night (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) bring about dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the flooring of your house that leg injuries could possibly happen when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is clearly less), plus if greater than one perch is mounted in your home they ought to be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Ideally your house should have a the very least one nest box for each three birds and also these ought to be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every night, also in the coldest of weather. Know, air flow works with the principle of warm and comfortable air leaving with a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced space - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of the house and at the exact same level, this is what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run connected then the points above are still real, yet you should likewise think about the run size. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a cost-free array bird is (and also let's face it, among the motivations for keeping some chickens in the house is perhaps enhanced or far better well-being) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m settled. Take a close take a look at some of the deal homes - it could well be the house has the best perches, proper air flow as well as sufficient nest boxes for a practical number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to invest the day on? Therefore as the claiming goes, "you obtain what you spend for". You could believe you've got hold of a bargain, however you and your group could rue the day you did. Purchase the ideal house and it will certainly last for a few years, if not longer offered the correct therapy. In the end your fowl as well as your chicken maintaining encounter will be much the much better for it.coop diy
More Posts
Chicken Coops for Sale in Lake Delton, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Shullsburg, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Merrillan, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Madison, Wisconsin
Chicken Coops for Sale in Sheboygan, Wisconsin