The Right Way To Keep Chickens And Have Healthy Happy Hens Laying Scrumptious Eggs
Most yard farming enthusiasts say that a chicken pen for housing your hens must be:
- Built so as to be impenetrable or unaffected by water
- Draught-free and well-ventilated
- Roomy enough for hens to nest and lay
- Created with perches to allow hens to roost at night
- Offer powerful protection from predator intrusion
Cost-effectiveness, adequacy in protection, and necessity are vital considerations in your housing decisions when hoping to buy or contruct a chicken coop.
Item 1: Home made chicken coop
If you're operating on a restricted budget, you will be able to save money by changing an existing shed, which often needs only a few, minor adjustments, and which is commonly spacious enough to accommodate more than 12 hens. The space needed is around six feet long and 4 feet wide.
Chickens perch at night. So, it is really important that you provide perches for them to roost in convenience and comfort. Each perch should be at least 2 feet from the floor and removable for clean-up, maintenance fix or replacement. As much as practicable, keep the perches clean to keep the feet of your chickens in good condition.
Item 2: Transportable chicken coops
If you've got a little garden and wish to keep 2 - 3 regular chickens (or up to five bantams), a portable chicken coop is cheap. They can be made or purchased.
In addition to being waterproof, straightforward to maintain, and offering high protection against predators, a good lightweight hen house also has an optional, fox-proof chicken run to boot. A start up back garden concern like yours can invest in a starter kit, which incorporates a small-size run, hens, and sundries like feeders and feed, in addition to the lightweight coop.
Item 3: Conventional chicken coop
A chicken coop built along normal requirements comes in a wide selection of sizes. More frequently it has optional chicken runs attached to in-built nest boxes and perches. While the best can be good-looking, well-built, and solid structures, they can be expensive occasionally fetching costs as high as $800 apiece. Most back garden farmers like to make their own coop, or to buy a easy the six-feet-by-four-feet wooden chicken coop, which can accommodate up to 12 hens.
The frequency of cleaning the coop relies on the season and the amount of hens you are keeping. Because hens spend a little more time indoors during winter, when daylight is shorter and nights are longer, there'll be a large increase in the volume of droppings. When the summer sets in, the coop stays comparatively cleaner as the hens stay longer outdoors.
Cleaning the coop at least two times per year is recommended as an absolute minimum, more is better.
The longer, healthy lives of your hens are directly in proportion to the cleanness and sanitation being maintained in the coop. You are better off from day to day if you grab a bucket and moggy litter scoop every morning and gather the droppings that had fallen the night before. There'll be less nasty odours in the coop.
Routine daily clean-up also prohibits the hens from treading on the droppings and bringing it into the nest boxes. You will be in a position to utilise large quantities of droppings for your compost pile, from which you organic fertilizer can be had for your garden plants, or merely put it on the garden.
Every now and then you need to conduct regular checks to discover if the coop has stayed weatherproof. Whenever obligatory, at least one time in every six months, you'll reapply a coat or a couple of the recommended waterproofing treatment, especially if you're employing a timber coop.
Moreover, check the roof to guarantee there is no water seepage or moistness that may affect the respiratory system of the hens and render them subject to other sicknesses. Damaging bacteria and fungi are known to proliferate in damp surfaces or surroundings.
If you pay satisfactory attention to purchasing or building a high quality chicken house you will have contented healthy hens that supply you with healthy healthy eggs as your reward. Keeping chickens is fun too.
Peter has a domain all about Chicken Coops where you can get more guidance about finding a great hen house to keep your chooks healthy and contented and laying eggs
