Posts Tagged ‘garden’
As part of the growing trend toward locally grown food and self-sufficiency, people living in towns and suburbs are choosing to keep chickens in their backyards. This hobby combines the enjoyment of caring for lively birds with the satisfaction of producing fresh, healthy eggs. If you’ve decided to keep poultry, you may wish purchase one of the many flat-packed chicken coops for sale online. These vary in terms of design, size and materials with some models providing better ventilation and lighting.
Certain design features can help keep your chickens happy and healthy. Look for coops with a hen house that is raised off the ground with an attached ramp to allow the birds access. This will help keep the nesting area dry and free of vermin. A pull-out tray beneath the hen house will make it easy to keep clean. A nesting box that can be accessed from outside the coop via a pull-up lid will allow you to collect eggs without disturbing the hens.
The size of coop you will need depends on how many chickens you intend to keep in it. In a coop consisting of an enclosed nesting area and a covered run, each laying hen requires about 6 square feet of space. A coop that is 6 foot long by 4 foot wide is 24 square feet and can comfortably house 4 chickens.
Pay attention to the materials description when considering a coop to purchase. Wood should be treated with a preserver to make it water-repellent and rot-resistant. Panels should have a thickness of half an inch or more to ensure that the coop is sturdy enough to withstand wind and weather. The sides of the chicken run should be covered in galvanized steel mesh to protect the birds from predators.
Adequate ventilation is very important for the health of your chickens. It allows moisture to evaporate and gases and odors to dissipate. Vents located near the roof of the nesting area will allow air to circulate without subjecting the birds to drafts.
Exposing the nesting area to light will encourage the hens to lay more and better eggs. The coop should have at least one glass or Perspex window which will provide the chickens with sunlight all year round. Ideally this should be on hinges so that it can be opened in summer for extra ventilation.
When comparing prices of chicken coops for sale, the general rule is that you get what you pay for. More expensive coops tend to be made of better materials and incorporate more features. A cheap coop that will put the health of your chickens at risk, be damaged by the weather or be invaded by vermin and predators is not a bargain. Remember that you will have to clean your coop, care for your chickens and collect eggs on a regular basis, so a coop designed with your convenience in mind is generally worth its price in the long run.
Meat and eggs are two benefits that come from raising chickens, but they do need shelter. You do not have to be a professional carpenter to accomplish this. It does not require excessively expensive building materials or complex plans. Chicken coops can be very simple to construct as long as you follow the suggested tips below.
Planning the chicken coop is essential. Elevating, or placing the coop on greater ground, may be the very first step. Doing this will maintain the rain from puddling around the chicken runs and structure. Deciding how big you would like the coop is your following step. 1 and 1 half to two square feet per chicken may be the room the birds will require within the coop. Eight to ten square feet per bird is how large the garden ought to be.
Sketch the building strategy. Make sure to have a door that’s big sufficient for you to enter in cleaning the coop, along with gathering eggs. Believe of placing either 1 or a bank of windows in southern facing wall. This can give correct ventilation throughout the hotter part with the year, and also the sun will warm the eggs within the cold.
Your creating components don’t need to be pricey. Scrap wood, plywood, and old buildings or sheds work fine for the needed supplies. Strategy out the region with the inner structure and maintain in mind that nesting boxes is going to be required for hens that lay eggs. 1 box is needed for each and every fourth or fifth bird. Six to ten inches of perch room is going to be required for every bird, too.
Buy whichever materials you need. You can use chicken wire to seal the yard of the chicken coop. Feeders, watering providers, and straw are vital, as well. You can start to build your coop once your plan and materials are ready. The coop’s yard and front wall need to be pointed towards the south.
The roof needs to have a good slope to it. To keep predators from getting inside the coop, cover the windows with chicken wire. If you want to be able to secure the coop you will need to make certain you include a latch on the door. Nest boxes and perching areas need to go along the walls. The perches have to be a minimum of three feet from the floor. Also remember the nesting boxes require straw, as well.
Once the chicken coop is finished, make sure the outer yard is enclosed with some sort of fencing material, such as chicken wire. This fence needs to be at least four feet in height. Also, you will need to bury the fence about twelve inches beneath the ground, and tilt it out from the yard. This keeps ground predators from getting in coop. Predatory birds endanger your chickens, so it is important you put some sort of netting material above the yard. Planting tall grass is also advisable.
Install the feed and water suppliers high, but no greater than the chicken’s back. Dirt will stay out with the containers in case you do this. Producing your own chicken shed isn’t a really hard endeavor. Merely follow the simple actions above and your birds will soon be in a position to appreciate their new house.
For all those people that are thinking about getting chickens, just a cautionary tale, how things can go wrong.
Duration : 0:8:11
http://bit.ly/a0iRPY Now There is a Guide That Walks You Through an Easy Step-by-Step Process of Building an Inexpensive Chicken Coop. http://bit.ly/a0iRPY
I had no idea that thousands of people were building chicken coops in their backyard. But where were they getting their plans? I collected various drawings and do it yourself ideas but nothing was very organized. I purchased a few guides, but all were either incomplete or you needed to be a carpenter to understand the steps. Even with my engineering background these plans all left gaps that were tough to fill. http://bit.ly/a0iRPY
I contacted my friend Jim, and we decided that with his poultry background and my engineerng background that we could design a chicken coop plan for the everyday average person. http://bit.ly/a0iRPY
Duration : 0:2:8
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Daisy, Georgia, Hazel, Mitzy, Sophie, and Camilla move into their new open-floor plan, side-yard addition… added to their coop on Tuesday, September 22, 2009. They seem to like it 
Duration : 0:1:1
http://tinyurl.com/cochicken
Discover How To Easily Build An Attractive And Affordable Chicken Coop That Protects Your Chickens From Predators Maintains Their Health And Delivers More Delicious Eggs.
Building a backyard chicken coop will be one of the best investments you’ll ever make. Not only will you have a self sustained miniature-farm that produces fresh organic eggs everyday, recycles your food scraps and provides high quality fertilizer, but you’ll be proud to know that you made something with your own two hands.
Also, building your own chicken coop just makes economical sense. You can build a chicken coop at just a fraction of the cost of buying a pre-built one. Most pre-built chicken coops you buy need to be assembled anyway, you’re really just paying hugely inflated prices for the material. Unfortunately, building your own chicken coop is not as easy as hammering some wood and wire mesh together. You need to take into account materials, insulation, ventilation, lighting, positioning, nesting, perches, litter collection and protection from the elements and other animals. Fortunately for you, using my many years of experience in poultry farming, I’ve created an easy to follow guide to building your own perfect chicken coop. It doesn’t matter if your a master carpenter or a total beginner, If you require a big or small coop, or if you have a small or big budget.
http://tinyurl.com/cochicken
Duration : 0:0:38
http://eCa.sh/3x5h – Building a chicken coop? Discover over 100+ Step-by-Step Printable DIY Plans to Building an Attractive & Affordable Long Lasting Predator-Safe Chicken Coop That Your Chickens Love. Just go to: – http://eCa.sh/3x5h
Duration : 0:1:2
There is supposed to be 1 light brahma and 1 silver laced wyondotte. to me they both look like light brahmas except 1 doesn’t have feathers on its legs.. I need your help.
Duration : 0:1:29
Nuthatch at Tehidy Woods Cornwall …
Filmed on 2nd April 2010 …
Video Produced by Goldfinch Garden …
NUTHATCH
The nuthatch is a plump bird about the size of a great tit that resembles a small woodpecker. It is blue-grey above and whitish below, with chestnut on its sides and under its tail. It has a black stripe on its head, a long black pointed bill, and short legs. It breeds in central and southern England and in Wales, and is resident, with birds seldom travelling far from the woods where they hatch.
WHERE TO SEE THEM
Best looked for in mature woods and established parkland in central and southern England and Wales, on the sides of tree trunks and underside of branches. Occasional sightings in Scotland.
WHEN TO SEE THEM
All year round.
WHAT THEY EAT
Insects, hazel nuts, acorns, beechmast and other nuts and seed.
Duration : 0:2:5
Visit http://www.electsake.com/survival_how-to.htm for more Videos along with Diagrams and Instruction on this and other Survival and Living off the Land Skills
– Pastor Glen talks about raising chickens and quails for eggs and meat.
Duration : 0:2:57
