Building A Chicken Coop The Back Yard Chicken Coop

Chicken Coop Scoop Straight from the Chicken Coop

Proper Construction of a Pen Suitable for Raising Chickens

Constructing of a chicken coop is easier than it seems. You need to pinpoint some important matters like the materials to buy and the tools to use. Plus, you also have to consider the area where to build the suitable pen for raising your chickens.

Alright, the easy yet crucial part begins with planning. First, the area, then the size of the pen. The pen size usually depends on how many chickens will be raised. Look at the option on what kind of birds you are dealing with.

Novice or not, it is still better to start off with the most basic pen – using the wire and post design. Here, the materials that you’ll need are the posts, wire, and staples that can be used for fences. The tools are also basic namely a sledgehammer, the ordinary hammer, wire cutters, and crowbar.

Now that you have gathered all materials and tools, surveyed the area, and is assured that there is none to worry about, it’s time for the construction.

To start with, look at the ground you’re working on. Notice the stiffness and dryness. If it’s anything like that, you have to bring in with you a bucket full of water. This will help soften the ground. Pound the ground using the pointed tip of the crowbar. By doing this, a hole is being formed.

While pounding, occasionally pour few amounts of water in the hole to soften the ground. By leaving your crowbar inside the hole, pull your body against it. By doing so, you’ll widen the proximity of the hole. If the hole is prominent enough and is 20 cm deep, that will be sufficient. Make sure that the hole has a wideness that can hold a pole in place.

You can now put the post inside the hole that you have made, pointed tip first. Using the sledgehammer, pound the pole to the ground. Do the pounding until you are sure that it has remained firm. Sometimes, it is better to have someone hold the post for you to ensure better stability. Always practice caution and focus on what you’re doing because you might pound your assistant instead of your post.

If your first post is standing firmly, you can now start on your second, and third, and fourth, and so on. Give about a meter from where the first post stands. That will determine elaborate spacing. To serve as a gate, let 2 posts stand about 1½ – 2 meters apart.

The moment you have firmly put all the posts in place, it’s time to put the wire around it. For this to be made possible, carry the wire on one corner then using your regular hammer, pound the fence staples at the end of the wire to the post. Once the end is tightly secured, unroll the wire going to the next post then staple the wire that touches the post. Do the unrolling and stapling process till you have completed wrapping around the entire posts. If you ran out of wire, get more then start where you ended.

Making a gate is also easy. All you need to gather are hinges, latch and a particle board. Start by cutting the board to fit the two ends of the posts. Now attach it together with the hinges and the latch.
There you have it. Raising chickens is easy for as long as you know the basics.

Chicken Coop Scoop Straight From The Backyard Chicken Coop

Chicken Raising Tips: Gearing up for your Chickens Arrival

Raising chickens is a very rewarding experience. You humans have so many differrent reasons for wanting chickens. One of them we will not be discussing in this post. My Chicken owner likes to just have us around for the pure enjoyment and relaxation that we bring him as he watches us go about our daily routines.

My special time of the day is when our chicken owner comes out with a can of scratch grains for myself and my flock of laying hens. As he scatters the grain about the ground we are careful to not miss one peice of grain. We will scratch about on the ground looking for the last peice. My guess this is why it is called scratch grain. I quietly cluck away as I watch the chicken owner relax with a facial expression of pure enjoyment that we seem to bring him as he watches away at our every move.

I remember when I first arrived as a young chick to the Backyard Chicken Coop. my chicken owner had everything all ready and prepared, just waiting for my arrivle to give me the best start to life that he possible could.

If you are wanting to raise chickens you also will need certain equipments and it must already be present upon the arrival of the chickens in your own backyard. You have to be geared up before presenting your new baby chicks to their brand new world. The transition period can be quite stressful therefore being prepared can help you rid of half of the stress.

You have to purchase a lot of items for your chicks to stay comfortable in their new home so that you will not experience any regrets.

1. Brooder

This is like a baby chick’s second pit stop after life inside an incubator. A brooder is sort of an incubator but is bigger. It can be made or bought. The thing about brooders is that you have to provide your own heat lamp and make sure that the temperature is adjustable.

Before putting the chicks inside the brooder, you should have it set at an environment that the temperature is not less than 90 degrees. A 95-degree heat can be a start. You maintain the heat lamp until the 6th week. From a 90-95 degree heat, you can decrease the heat by 5 degrees every week until it reaches about 60-65 degrees by the 6th week.

Once your baby chicks arrive or you put them out of the incubator if you choose to hatch your won baby chicks, you have to make sure that there is already available food and water inside the brooder. Never let these two essentials run out. They should always have something to put their beaks into.

Babies must be fed with dry mash. Chicken babies love baby chick mash. Solid food like grains is unsuitable, We will really love it once we are a little older but not as new chicks. Grits aren’t necessary when you choose to use mash feed. You can buy all these in a local feed store.

1. Food

Without this, who will live? The food you will give will entirely depend on the kind of chicken that you have. But to sum it up, just give something that is “complete”. It must contain the right food substance that your chickens will need like carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and minerals and if the budget can still take it, buy them vitamins. There are two kinds of feeds: conventional and organic. Either of the two can be purchased online or at your local agricultural poultry store. I really thrived on a good 24% protien chick start feed.

If the time has come for your chickens to lay eggs or is about 20 weeks old, purchase a good 16% protien layer feed. But if they are younger than 20 weeks, starter feed is highly recommended.

2. Waterer and Feeder

Purchase a waterer and feeder that are suspended from the ground. They should hang at least a couple inches off it. A very good advantage when purchasing such items is that they will prevent your chickens from jumping on top of it and smudging off their feet filled with feces inside the container. An automatic refill feature is also included which is very reliable during times when you have to go somewhere and will take you a couple of days before you come back. Worry-free.

My chicken owner is very careful to keep my feeder and my waterer very clean to prevent the spreading of any desieses amongst his flock of chickens. He is also very careful to keep good clean fresh water in front of us at all times.

3. Bed

Yes, no matter how absurd it seems, you have to provide your young chickens with the proper bedding to keep them warm, comfortable, healthy and happy. But this doesn’t mean that you have to buy them sheets from Best Buy. Beddings can be in the form of a pile of clean haystack, old or used newspapers9Changed regularly), or if you wanted it to be extra special, there are beddings that can be bought online or in a local agricultural poultry store. My owner has always provided us with fresh clean pine shavings.

Beddings are best inside the coop where it can provide chickens a soft surface to roam around with. Beddings are also beneficial for your flock because it absorbs the odor and droppings. You don’t want a foul-smelling coop, right? Hey I might be a chicken but I sure am not a pig… I want to stay clean and fresh smelling. I find my chicks dig me better that way. Another advantage of the bedding is that is saves the eggs from cracking making it an area where eggs are safe to land. I will have to give you some good nest box building plans and tips one of these days soon.

There are a lot of bedding varieties. But whatever the bedding that you’ve chosen, always make it a point that it is at least two inches thick and is truly absorbent.

4. Dust Baths

After your chickens have graduated from their nice warm housing into the hen house where they will continue to grow until it is time for egg production you may see us doing something that you may consider a little strange. If you see your chickens digging a shallow hole and creating a mess with dirt, they are dust bathing! Chickens enjoy bathing in dust. But did you know that when chickens take dust baths, they are actually protecting themselves from parasites and those creatures that find it interesting to live inside their legs and feathers. Therefore, it is necessary to have dust baths.

If you have a dry area in your chicken run that has patches of fresh ground, it’s the perfect spot to do their thing. But if your pen consists of entirely cement, worry not, because there are artificial dust baths available in agricultural stores.

Well that is going to be it for today. I hope you enjoyed my scoop from the coop. I wish you much success raising your own chickens in your own backayard chicken coop.

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