Diy: Chicken Coops
It just makes perfect economic sense to build a chicken coop yourself instead of buying an expensive pre-built chicken coops
. Pre-built coops have to be assembled anyway; you're really just paying hugely inflated prices for the material.
I understand that building a chicken coop can seem like a hard project. Working out dimensions, materials, insulation, ventilation, lighting, positioning, nesting, perches, waste collection and protection from the elements and other predators can seem complicated.
Buying your chicken coop new from the store will usually cost $500.00 upwards! And all you'll often get is a flat-pack coop that you have to build yourself anyway; you just end up paying for overpriced materials, no fun!
Building your own chicken coop from home is by far the most cost effective solution, not to mention the most rewarding and fun, however you need to research and account for the right materials and measurements, nesting boxes, perches and entertainment, lighting, positioning, ventilation, waste collection and of course protection from the elements and deadly predators but planning and doing it all yourself can seem just too overwhelming.
A chicken coop (or hen house) is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside there are often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features.
A coop may have an outdoor run. Both the inside and outdoor floors of a chicken coop are often strewn with a loose material such as straw or wood chips to deal with chicken droppings and to allow for easier cleanup. Most chicken coops have some means of ventilation to help air out any smells.
There is a long standing controversy over the basic need for a chicken coop. One line of thinking, called the "fresh air school" (which is held by most commercial poultry operations) is that chickens are mostly hardy but can be brought low by confinement, poor air quality and darkness, hence the need for a highly ventilated or open-sided coop with conditions more like the outdoors, even in winter. However, others who keep chickens believe they are prone to illness in outdoor weather and need a controlled-environment coop. This has led to two housing designs for chickens: Fresh-air houses with wide openings and nothing more than wire mesh between chickens and the weather (even in Northern winters), or closed houses with doors, windows and hatches which can shut off most ventilation.
Backyard coops are small and built within a fenced area (sometimes bounded by chicken wire) to let the chickens roam, peck and hunt for insects. If this kind of "yarding" is floorless and can easily be moved (or dragged) from spot to spot it is called a chicken tractor. Many people, moreover in rural areas, keep a small flock of chickens from which they glean eggs and meat mostly for themselves. The number of small chicken coops in urban areas has been growing, which has led to manufactured chicken coops like the Eglu which are designed for more cramped spaces and a tidier look.
Urban settings may have laws which regulate any backyard farming of livestock. Oakland, California, bans roosters, with a rule that hens be kept at least twenty feet away from dwellings, schools and churches.
The first thing you have to determine is the dimensions of your coop. Plan the number of chickens you intend to start raising. It is imperative that you allow every chicken the right room for them to roam around the coop. Purpose is one consideration too. If you are aiming your chickens for eggs alone, then you will need to just learn how to make a coop for chickens. Reproducing chicks for meat later will be another story as the chick coop needs other components more than a coop for grown up chickens.
Straighten out as well the final location of the actual chicken coop. You must select a locale that will take a lot of sunshine and that is secure enough from predatory animals like the neighborhood dogs. Consider the chickens as your investment and you want to ensure you do not let them become the preys when the dogs hunt for food.
The concluding point with making a simple yet effective chicken coop is to make it a point you can maintain it all throughout. Cleanliness is very essential to prevent diseases and keep your chickens healthy. To ascertain that you do not have any hassle with the cleaning process is to have the floors built on a slight angle towards the door of the coop. By constructing it this way, you can hose out the coop with the droppings simply running towards the door and out of the coop. This is because of the natural slant that you have applied with the chicken coop.
In conclusion, it is well within outreach to live off in our own terms. We can go back to basics and learn how to raise chickens in our backyards. Moreover, the chicken manure is a very good organic fertilizer. This is a great bonus when you opt to have a vegetable garden.
by: Kelly Villarosa
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