November 19, 2009
In building a chicken coop, there are many things that people don't take under consideration, and they're sometimes things that may finish up hurting their chickens in the long term. Agree with it or not, there's much more to making a coop than just building it and inserting your chickens, so let's take a look at the potential dangers in your coop.
Low Ceiling
You won't think about this, but chickens are birds, and just because they do not fly well, doesn't imply they don't give it their best shot. Subsequently , if you have a low ceiling, the chickens are doubtless going to hurt themselves when they try and fly in the coop. If it is weirdly low, there is a chance the chicken will manage to wreck its neck.
This essentially isn't something you want to see when you come out to feed your chickens in the morning, so remember, if you have to duck while fundamentally walking around in your coop, the ceiling is too low, that is something to think about in your chicken coop designs.
Exposed Wires
Chickens need lighting 14 hours every day to lay properly, and for you want a heat lamp in your chicken coop designs. This does not imply you must run an extension twine across your ceiling and let it sag. When you install the heat lamp, make sure that you either wire it into the ceiling, or at least fasten the core soundly to the ceiling so that your chickens don't start running into the hanging wire. This will also cause difficulty in entering and going out of your coop, so make sure it is done the right way.
Poisons
you can always have some rodents rambling your coop, and while they can get exasperating, you mustn't set out poisons, and this is for 2 reasons. One reason is that your chickens will eat the poison and you'll find them dead the following morning. There's one other reason, and that is even if you're smart, and put the poison out of the reach of your loved birds, the rodent that eats the poison will not always be that far away. Truthfully, your chickens will most likely try to attack announced rodent, and likely absorb the poison that way, ending with the same result.
Not Good Fence Design
If you don't design your fence properly, your chickens will finish up dead one way or another. Make sure that you build the fence from chicken wire, or run some plastic chicken wire round the base of the fence so that the chickens don't poke their head thru it and finish up getting hurt when a predator is near.
Poor Lighting
Some people forget that chickens do need light, and tend to leave the poor birds in the dark all day. This isn't just negative to their health - it also meddles with their laying habits.
Make sure that you add in decent lighting when you're doing your chicken coop designs, or you might meet with disastrous results. Those are a couple of the major failings in chicken coop designs, and hopefully by studying this piece, you have learned to avoid them altogether, and your chickens will live a long and productive life.
June 30, 2009
As we were growing up, we cannot remember a time in our life when we did not own any chickens. We have childhood memories of going out and feeding chickens. Every day when we go out to feed the birds, we flash back to feeding the chickens as a child. A lot of people are fond of the childhood memories they have. Many of us have childhood memories like that? Do you remember helping your parents build a chicken coop? Chances are you did not know exactly what is going on. Now, here you are, sitting there wondering how to build a chicken coop. As we write this article, we are going to give you some information that you need in order to build those birds a home.
First of all, before you even get the birds, you need to take the size into consideration. How big should your chicken coop be? Personally, we believe it should be a big one. A lot of people prefer building a smaller chicken coop, so they can transport it. If you do not plan on taking you chickens for a ride anywhere, then opt for that bigger one.
You will have to have a minimum of four square feet for every chicken that will be in the chicken coop. You will have to make your chicken coop as big as possible, so your chicken will lay more eggs and a stress free.
You should note that building a big chicken coop won't be much more work. Sure, it may take a bit more supplies, but those supplies are actually cheap.
Before you start to build this big house, you will need to figure out where to place it. We highly recommend you paying attention to the morning sunlight and putting it where the sunlight shines bright during the morning hours. Chickens love the morning sun, this is a known fact.
In order to have your birds laying more eggs, placing them in the morning sunlight and having them in a big enclosure will definitely do the job.
You should note that you will only need few material to build your chicken coop and these materials won't be expensive at all. Basically, you need some wood, nails, mesh wire and a hammer. To protect your chicken coop even more, you might want to consider to put some shingles on your roof.
When you have the frame put up, you may need some help when it comes to putting the roof on. At this point, when you have the roof on, it will be time to put that mesh wire up. No matter what you do, even if you have to put a ton of nails and staples through it, we highly recommend you not leaving any gaps between that wiring. If you leave gaps, you will make it easy for those predators to grab one of your birds. There are many wild animals out there that would love to have your chicken for dinner. I have no doubt that you will find that building a chicken coop is real fun. Now that you know how to build a chicken coop, it is time to get going.
For a step by step guide on how to build a chicken coop visit Chicken Coop Plans
