Chicken coop what do you need

This is why I recommend Chickenpedia to all my readers! Click here to check out their beginner-friendly courses today! Learn more about choosing the perfect coop for your backyard chickens with our super helpful guide here. Come and have a peck at our range!

Just click the Request Help button and fill in the form. Ask an Expert. Thank you for joining our mailing list! All Rights Reserved. Menu 0. Continue Shopping Your Cart is Empty. Chicken Coops Protecting the Flock. Requirements for a Chicken Coop To ensure your birds are happy and healthy, it's a great idea to keep them in a ready made chicken coop! Chicken Coop Security First, you must ensure your coop helps to prevents predators.

Chicken Coop Ventilation An ideal chicken house will also need to provide enough ventilation to prevent your chickens from developing any type of respiratory disease.

Chicken Coop Cleanliness Chickens are naturally messy creatures but cleanliness is easily handled if you get the right coop. Chicken Coop Perches When it comes to height, your coop should be large enough to provide roosting perches. Chicken Coop Nesting Boxes Make sure your chicken coop has a sufficient number of nesting boxes. Chicken Coop Space In terms of interior space, try to allow a minimum of half a square metre per chicken. Sources and further reading. Related Articles Choosing the Perfect Chicken Coop by Backyard Chicken Coops January 08, If you are on the lookout for chicken coops for sale there are a few things you should consider.

Chickens are habitual creatures with very Not only do chickens provide protein rich, nutrition packed Hemp Bedding This is not Eggs Raising Baby Chicks. What are they? Can you tell me the breed of your chicken that is the bottom left of the first picture?

The one with the black spots. They are mixes I believe- the rooster was a buff Brahma, which is what they mostly look like with a little more black in them than a standard buff Brahma hen. I would like to add one more suggestion to the roosting bar advice. For safety purpose, you can use an automatic chicken door in your coop. If you can install it, then you can easily use it, and they can give safety from predators to your chicken.

I live in a very rural area and certainly appreciate your website. Thanks for the insight given to some very important points. I will keep you on my list of places to go to. Great info with simple convenience and important helpful points for chicken keeper at early stage.

Are you just being generous with space to give your birds extra room or is there a real reason you need the 10 sq ft? At the moment I have 9 chickens that are not adults yet! So the coop gives them sq ft and the rub itself will be sq ft. Whole unit will be on wheels that can raise or lower to move the coop and run all in one unit.

So each chicken will have 16 sq ft each for now, till more chickens come to join the party! Do you think 6 sq ft not enough space for my chickens? If you think I missed something or should add something let me know please? How bright?

How many hours per day to keep them laying at maximum output? What strength of lumens? I plan on using LED 12 volt lights on a car battery charged by solar cells. Very helpful information as I build my cooper and run from an unused storage shed and hugh penned area dogs use to use.

Thanks love your site. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Jo Rellime on December 9, at am. Elizabeth Stebelton on March 10, at pm. Khristi Colored Egg Homestead on December 9, at am. Sharing on our facebook page and pinning for future reference : Reply. Janet Garman on December 14, at am. Your photos are very very good.

And great info also. Tanya sevenspringshomestead. In that way, waiting hens have somewhere safe to lay if they cannot delay. Eggs laid on the floor by those who could not wait can end up dirty or broken. Line nesting boxes with comfortable bedding, such as straw. You will need to regularly change the bedding to keep it clean, dry, and parasite-free.

Chickens have a natural urge to scratch and peck at the ground in search of food. At range they spend half of their day foraging in this way. The urge cannot be fully satisfied by providing food in a container, and a chicken without dirt or litter to scratch will quickly become bored and frustrated. When confined to a pen or coop, it is helpful to scatter a little grain in bedding or sand for them to scratch. Of course, this will need to be kept clean to avoid disease.

Unlike songbirds, chickens do not wash in water. Rather they roll in dirt every few days. This behavior is necessary to keep their feathers in good condition. When preening, they clean and oil their feathers from a preen gland near their tail. When they dust-bathe, they remove the stale preen oil and parasites. In addition, chickens feel a strong urge to carry out the behavior—dust-bathing makes them feel good!

It is important to make a dust bath within the chicken enclosure so they can carry out this behavior at will. The site should be dry, sheltered, and kept clean. Chickens much prefer dirt, sand, or peat to wood shavings, rice hulls, or other litter. You can also add diatomaceous earth or kaolin to enhance parasite control. Like us, chickens get vitamin D from sunshine. It will give me a great deal of peace knowing that between the garden and the chickens my family will always be well fed no matter what the economy does.

We moved back to the country 10 years ago. We had a large corner lot in the city and my neighbors all called my hillbilly because my back yard was full of container vegetables and a raised bed for corn. We got rabbits, as I showed and raised those for 4H.

I am thinking about chickens and ducks now. I got miniature goats for dairy and make cheese too. Yes, it is awesome knowing that my children, and grandchildren now too, will always be able to have healthy food and be able to feed themselves. We have three hens that are just starting to lay eggs. The eggs are soft. We have seen chickens pecking at the eggs. What should we do?

This will be our second year with our Chickens and we started out with four, on was killed by a crow so we knew we had to cover the top of their outside area, now we have 16 chickens and they have a large chicken coop, with a large free range to go in and out freely, and a nestling area that we can use to just lift up the hinged top to collect eggs from the ouside, the coop is full of hay and long three long perches that they perch and sleep on at night, we feed them lots of corn, they love old crusty bread, we get over a dozen eggs a day, and give to family and friends so its so worth to have chickens and the kids love to come feed them..

So happy to hear about the cold weather. I'm a country girl-city girl-finally going back to the country girl and can hardly wait for my chickens to raise. Thanks for all this great info! Do chickens have to have a rooster around to lay eggs? I say no, but my friend says yes. I don't want babies or meat, just the eggs. Thanks for the info. I really enjoyed reading it and everyone's input.

Yes, chickens can be cuddly. I used to carry mine in the basket of my bicycle as a little girl. Also, my mother would hold her and pet her neck until she fell asleep.

Happy Farming to You All. So excited to see this subject as I've been contemplating raising some chickens no roosters. Recently moved to a farm and I am in heaven and want to take advantage of the space and area to have some feathered friends - but want to do it RIGHT for the chickens sake. So, have been doing much research and was glad to come across this when I came to FA to see about seed starting. Am looking forward to reading future snippets as I can use all the info I can get.

I've always wondered, though; I see where chickens have personality - but can they be cuddly? No heat lamp necessary. I live in Northern Ontario, and only used heat lamps for babies chicks and lambs. Even in weather, the chickens were fine as long as they were sheltered. We had about 40 free range chickens on our farm. Every time my Husband would go outside, a Rhode Island red would always hang out with him I mentioned that he had a "friend" and he was skeptical So, we painted the friendly hen's tail blue to see if it really was the same hen hanging out with him Her name: BLUE She would come in the house if the door was open just to find him.

She followed him everywhere. Chickens are very cuddly! I have one big girl who jumps on my lap times a day, puts her chest on mine, roosts down and falls fast asleep to the point of snoring! Chicky poo is great for the garden after it has been composed for 90 days. We have 39 hens and 5 roosters and not one of my roosters have attacked a visitor or family member. In addition, we put up fencing to keep the chickens out of the gardens, they are trainable.

If one gets in, they are immediately traumatized with the hose, yelling and clapping. I have yelled at them from the top floor out the window and was surprised that they got the message and got out!! They're smarter than you think. Michelle, you're right about chicken manure being to harsh to put straight on the garden. Composting is the way to go. And PellyRdGirl, thanks for the chicken-training tips.

Just so you know, chicken poop is very harsh so don't plan on using it in your garden which, by the way may be destroyed by your chickens--they scratch everywhere!

And roosters can be mean and deadly to ones ankles. Mom had four hens and two roosters. They were all gorgeous but the roosters did not like my sister and I. We had to use a broom to keep them off our ankles if we went in her backyard. I build the coop and I loved the chickens. They are great fun to watch and they do have personalities.

Don't know why only my sister and I weren't their favorites--they did not bother Mom or Dad or my brothers and their wives! Wish I could have chickens in my condo! So glad to see this I've been contemplating starting a coop! Keep the advice rolling. Do you have any suggestions for breeds that are "especially heat hardy" I live in the southern most part of South Carolina and our summers can be nasty. Heat is a problem, isn't it?

Worse than cold. Check out the breed list on backyardchickens. And their daily offerings of food, fun and compost building donations are great too I would recommend researching the predators in your area, as well as breeds of chickens that are best suited to where you live. We love having chickens and allow them free-range.

However, if you are particular about your patio furniture, or anything for that matter, you need to know that they will perch wherever they can. We do close them up in a coop at night so they do have a safe place to go, but we do have a significant problem with black snakes in warmer weather. That being said, I would not trade our chickies for store-bought eggs, nor for the entertainment they provide with their antics.

They are also very helpful in the compost pile by turning it over looking for food. Thanks for the blog, I look forward to additional entries. I am really excited about this blog. My fiance and his family have always had chickens. They are all gone now, but we are considering starting back up with them. I agree with everybody about the taste of fresh eggs as compared to store bought. I have fibromyalgia, and one of the best things I have done for myself is to study foods and keep a food diary.

When I eat organic and fresh, non-processed foods, I do much better. I am looking forward to the next blog! Happy farming :. Plus it tastes better! I was shocked to learn that grocery store eggs are at least ten days old when they hit the shelf. Most eggs in cafes and stores can be around 6 months old as told to me from a supplier to cafe chain. Hi Chickens are great even without the eggs. My kids moved me to town. I was so sad without my chickens. My son in law finally built me a chicken tractor and brought in my Silkies.

I am content here now. They have such funny personalities. I will very much enjoy this. We did a frame run. The "T" posts are not strong enough for a determined big dog. That's one determined dog if it's damaging metal T-posts! A frame run is a great idea. Did you have to go to hardware cloth instead of chicken wire? Chickens are awesome little creatures!

We have 9 bantams smaller versions. We hatched out some eggs and got another rooster. Maybe it's because they are related. You wouldn't think it but they have such personality. Keep them safe, dry and clean and it's a joy. I have had 3 roosters at one time and didn't even know it because 1 becomes dominant, the "alpha" The same thing happened with the third when I found a home for my second rooster!

It was a really neat evolution to watch! Just this morning as my wife and I ate breakfast, I mentioned how blessed we are to have these eggs. We have had chickens for a lot of years. I would like to offer a few pointers: 1 I put a timer in my coop so the light comes on every morning at and off every night at I get eggs all year long. Do the hard thing and thin your herd.

Your production will be better for it. We don't use lights on our hens. The hens need that rest in the low laying season. I would never force or fool my hens into laying by adding the additional hours of light just to get a few extra eggs from them.

We don't use lights either. When the sun begins to set, our chickens make their way into the coop. Daylight is for being awake and dark or night is for sleep. We don't try to manipulate Mother Nature. It's -flock- not -herd-,by the way. I would highly recommend getting chickens! Once you get the coop built and critter-proof, it's not that much work. If you have enough hens you can pay for the food with the eggs that you sell I agree - chickens are pretty low maintenance once you get the predator-proofing in place.

I really enjoyed mine! I got creative for my coop and used an extra large dog crate for my coop. I used a dowel for the perch. I bungied a Real Lemon bottle with a watering attachment upside down in the coop. I made a 3 sided concrete block frame to set the crate upon and painted and planted pentas all around it and in the open front part I slid the pan.

Now when it's time to clean out the coop all I have to do is hose out the bottom of the coop and spray down the pan. To keep them safe from rain and cold I fashioned a tarp that rolls down the back and sides of the coop and use an infra red lamp for the cold.

My girls lay almost every day! I only have two, but they have a 15 x 15 run that they happily dig up every day. All I have to do is spray out the coop and rake out the yard. For the nest box I used a plastic round planter that is nestled in an iron frame used to be a foot stool, very ornate and looks like a little throne with a nest on top.

I would love to see a picture of your coop. We are in need of a coop and the more we can use that is already in our household the better.

If you don't mind sharing a photo please email me at mlouispalacio yahoo. Skip to main content. You are here Raising Chickens. Raising Chickens How to Get Started. A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens. By The Editors. December 17, About This Blog. Tags Chickens Raising Chickens What do you want to read next? Backyard Chicken Basics. Raising Chickens How to Build Raising Chickens Collecting, Raising Chickens How to Raise Tips for Raising Baby Chicks. Raising Chickens When Chicken Coop Design Considerations.

Common Chicken Health Problems. Raising Chickens Choosing the Raising Ducks for Eggs. Spring-Cleaning the Hen House. Why don't you recommend roosters? What are things chickens can't eat? I was told tomatoes and onions? Do I have to have a rooster for a chicken to lay eggs. Hi Monica, A rooster has a larger comb the fleshy crest on top of their head than a hen, and longer tail feathers as well.

I would like to know how to keep hens. Love to rear chickens. I want to rear poultry. Its good,I also need ideas to start. I'm interested in doing it. I love farming ,but don't know where to start.. Do I need a rooster for eggs? I would like to start my chicken farm business. There is no such thing!