How to Build a Chicken Coop - 6 Crucial Elements on Building a Chicken House

By Dale Higgins

When building a chicken coop, it is suggested that you follow the guidelines below for a successful endeavor.

Element #1. - Appearance and Design:

Sketch out your design on a sheet of paper before you do anything else. Think of the colors you will paint the roof and chicken coop walls. Always keep in mind that if your chicken coop is clearly visible to your neighbors, (unless you live in a farm it will most likely be visible to your entire neighborhood,) it shouldn't ever serve as a distraction or defacement of its utmost surroundings. So make sure to design an aesthetically looking chicken coop so that your neighbors do not complain of its detracting appearance. Once finished, always remember to remove and dispose of any types of garbage or weeds from around your chicken coop. Try to maintain an appealing landscape around it to enhance its overall appearance.

Element #2. - Using Sound Judgment:

When designing your chicken coop structure, you must use sound judgment in almost every aspect of the way.

For instance, you want to use building materials in which the cleaning and disinfecting procedures will be quick and easy. The doors you install should open inwards, not outwards. You don't want your chickens roosting on your windows, so it is best to install sliding windows.

A question many people ask is how to build a chicken coop who's floors are easy to hose and spray down without much puddling? Well the secret to that is to slightly slope the flooring toward the door. This way, when you spray out the chicken coop, the water will flow out, hence solving your puddling problem.

Element # 3. - Protection from Hazardous Elements:

So you want to learn how to build a chicken coop with maximum protection?
Then listen up.

As you may know, a well built chicken coop will protect your chickens from hazardous elements such as bad weather (heavy rain, wind, hale, snow, cold climates, etc,) but they will also protect them from hungry predators, theft and injury.

So how do we accomplish that?

Easy. You want to build a draft free chicken house with windows and doors that can be opened and closed as needed. Make sure the windows and doors both have proper screening systems installed in them such as a heavy gage mesh wire. Building the chicken coop on a high yet well drained area with ensure the least amount of dampness of the coop. Be sure to build your chicken coop in an area that faces the sun which will help warm and dry the soil and coop itself after it rains.

To protect your chickens from predators, the best thing to do is to bury your outside runs with chicken wire all around the coop about 1 foot deep. This will prevent some very hungry predators such as raccoons, cats and even dogs from digging underneath it.

Strategy # 4. - Coop Ventilation:

You may be wondering how to build a chicken coop that will not only keep your chickens locked up and protected from bad weather and predators yet receive the proper ventilation it requires. If so, then you already understand the importance of draft free air movement from within the coop. Chickens, much like humans, need fresh air and oxygen. The same goes for the removal of unwanted excessive moisture and carbon dioxide. A chicken coop with ample air movement and proper ventilation will help remove the ammonia build up and dampness that may grow inside its walls.

Speaking of walls, the chicken coop walls should have proper insulation installed which will help keep the chickens dry. As long as chickens are dry, they can handle cold climates very well, but humidity plus cold weather will cause health issues for your poultry. Therefore, insulated walls are a must!

Strategy # 5. - Light Source:

If you want a good source of light and warmth for your chickens during the cold months of the year and a solid source of ventilation during the hot months, then be sure to install the chicken coop windows facing the southside where they will receive direct sunlight throughout the day.

On another note, if your goal is to raise chickens that will produce great eggs all year round, then you should look into an electrical source of light. You should be able to easily install an electrical light at the height of the chicken coop's ceiling which will help keep your chickens warm and help them lay better chicken eggs throughout the year. One ceiling light should be enough for a small scale chicken coop, for larger chicken coops though, try to install one electrical ceiling light per every 30 - 40 feet.

Strategy # 6. - Conveniently placed Wateres and Chicken Feeders:

Chicken feeders and waterers should be placed where your flock will have easy access to them. However, you have to becareful where you place them because chickens like to make a mess of everything they eat due to their chicken scratching instincts. I'm sure you don't want to see your chicken feed mix all over the coop floors so, to avoid this, place the chicken feeders at the height of the chicken's back. This way they will have to stretch their necks up to eat but won't reach the feeders with their feet. Same goes for the waterers. Just make sure to keep the waterers full of fresh clean water throughout the day.

There you have it folks. 6 quick and easy strategies that will show you how to build a chicken coop fast and efficiently. Whether you're building a large scale chicken coop or a small one, these tips should get you moving in the right direction.

Folks, did you know that the average american spends about $300 to build a chicken coop? Some even invest over 2 months of work trying to assemble the darn structure and in the end aren't even fully contempt with their product. Not very enticing is it? A great chicken coop plan can cut your time and efforts in half while saving you a vast amount money on building materials. To learn how to build a chicken coop with maximum benefits for your flock without investing a magnitude of your time and money , click here:
how to build a chicken coop.

Dale Higgins has been raising chickens and poultry for over 20 years and is an expert in building chicken coops. You can visit his website here: http://www.mybackyardchickenfarm.com

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Easter Chicken Doorstop

Craft Ideas By Hobbycraft

What You Need:
Selection of patterned fabrics
Quilting fabric
Cream and red thread
Black buttons
Polyester filling pack
1kg rice or beans*
The pattern which can be printed off here...

This Project
Allow: 2 Hours
Skill Level: Advanced

1. Cut the pieces from the fabrics using the template as a guide.
2. Make the wings by joining the two pieces right sides together. Stitch a seam 1cm from the edge leaving an opening for turning. Turn right side out, press and put aside.
3. Join the body pieces right sides together, from beneath the neck to the top of the tail. Then insert the gusset (see template) allowing for a 1cm seam allowance. Leave a small opening for turning and for adding the filling.
4. Turn the chicken right side out. Fill first with the rice or beans, then top up with polyester filling until the chicken is firm. Sew the opening closed.
5. Pin the wings to the body and stitch the lower part in place leaving the upper part to act as a handle.
6. Use red thread to attach a button eye to each side.

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How to Make a Pecking Chicken Game

This was a game I thought up to entertain children during a medieval theme day. The clockwork chickens hop along and do battle knocking over their rivals. The game looks medieval and children love the fun of it.

To make a pecking chicken game you need...
MDF wood,
Hard Board,
Wood glue,
Doweling,
Paint,
7 wooden dolly heads or other wooden balls,
Oddments of colourful fabric and thin ribbon for the bunting.

You will also need 5 or 6 wind up chickens that hop about, a bag of plastic gold coins and the Game Rules, that you can download here.

First cut out a big circle of MDF wood for the arena. The size of this circle will determined how big the arena will be. Make sure that all of your clock work chickens will fit onto it at the same time. My arena 39 cm in diameter.

Cut out another circle inside this circle to create a hoop shaped border. The border should be about 5 cm wide all the way around. Sand all the edges after cutting.

Take the hardboard and cut out a circle 39 cm in diameter to sit on top of the hoop. Glue in to place and sand edges off so that it’s all flush.

When the glue has dried, you need to shape the hardboard slightly so that it is bowl shaped so the chickens always hop towards one another. With the hard board on top soak the arena and put something heavy (I used a brick) in the centre of the wood and leave for a day. If you leave it out side it will dry naturally and develop a slight dip. You can check to see if it has done the trick with a marble, if the marble rolls to the centre that’s perfect, if not repeat the process.

You need to 8 drill holes through the hard board and the hoop for the doweling. I used 15 mm doweling, so my holes required a 15 mm wood drill bit. When measuring where the holes should go, use a protractor and place them 45 degrees apart. Drill the holes and tidy them up with a light sanding.

Cutting the doweling – You need 5 long lengths that go through the arena; these are about 40cm long. And you will need 3 short lengths for the legs at the front edge, these are about 7 cm long.

First, apply some wood glue to a hole and push a short length through so that the top of the dowel is flush with the top of the arena. Then add the other two short lengths in adjacent holes. You may need to sand the tops of the doweling.

The bigger poles need pushing through to with a ‘leg’ left at the bottom which is about the same height as the short doweling. This raises the arena off from the floor. Glue the tall poles into position.

Undercoat the arena and then paint in bright colours.
You also need to paint the wooden dolly heads. I found them easier to paint after I had pushed them onto a few wooden skewers; I then stood the skewers in a mug. 5 beads need painting in a contrasting colour to the poles, and the other 2 need to be the same colour as the poles.

Whilst you are waiting for the paint to dry, you can make a start on the bunting. Cut our some triangles of material from brightly coloured fabric. Make the triangles elongated to make them look medieval. My triangles are 4cm by 9cm. Sew a zigzag stitch with a sewing machine around the edges of the triangles to prevent fraying. I used 12 triangles.

Next you need to sew the triangles onto the ribbon to create the bunting. Measure 30 cm and then sew on the first triangle, leave a 4 cm gap and then sew on the next triangle, this is for the slopped start to the bunting. The rule of thumb is that you need to leave about 6 cm of ribbon to pass by a pole and then a 1.5 cm gap between the two triangles that hand between poles. This gives the bunting a nice swag. You need to sew 4 sets of triangle sin pairs, and then leave 6 cm and then add a triangle, leave 4 cm leave a triangle and then leave 30 cm of ribbon before cutting.

Put a blob of glue on the top of each post, and attach the bunting with the ribbon tops at the back. The ribbon should sag slightly between poles. Once the ribbon is in place stick a contrasting dolly bead on the top of the pole to finish it off. Wipe off any excess glue. At the two ends of the bunting, glue or staple the ribbon to the arena floor half way between the last pole and the first leg. Cut off excess ribbon and glue a pole coloured dolly head on the ribbon end.

If your dolly heads have holes in them as mine did, you will need to fill the holes with wood filler, sand flush and paint. This also gives you the opportunity to touch up on the paint in other places.

Your pecking chicken game is now complete, you just need to print of the rules, I framed the rules in an inexpensive gold looking frame. And you need to stick coloured pompoms to the tops of the chicken’s heads so that you can tell them apart.

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Pattern for Knitted Battery Hen Jacket / Jumper

Former battery hens which have lost their feathers are being knitted jumpers.

See links for more details about the poor hens...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4640253/Jumpers-for-chickens-appeal-kits-out-1500.html

Video of Hens wearing the Jumpers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8537773.stm

The Hens need your help!

Please knit a hen jumper and post it to...

Little Hen Rescue

The Stables

Greenways

Norwich

NR15 1QL

England

Pattern for Knitted Hen Jacket

Materials

Double knitting yarn (100g makes approximately 3 jumpers)

2 buttons or 10cm Velcro

1 pair of number 8 (4mm) knitting needles

4mm crochet hook

Knitted in stocking stitch with garter stitch borders

Cast on 41 sts,

Work 4 rows K

Increase for tabs;

Cast on 10 sts at beginning of next row, k14, p to last 4 sts, k4.

Cast on 10 sts at beginning of next row, k14, p to last 14sts, k14.

Work buttonholes; (work these 2 rows straight if using Velcro).

(K2, yf k2tog) 3 times, work to end keeping edges in garter st.

Repeat this row for buttonholes on the other tab.

Cast off 10 sts at beginning of next row.

Next row – cast off 10 sts, k4, p2 tog, p to last 6 sts, p2tog, k4.

Dec 1 st at each end on every fol 6th row until 25 sts remain.

Divide for neck;

Work 11 sts, cast off 3, work to end – complete this half first.

1) k4, p to end

2) cast off 2, k to end

3) k4, p to end

4) k2tog, k to end

5) k4, p2tog, p to end

Work 4 rows straight

10) K to last 5 sts, inc in next st, k4.

11) K4, p to last st, inc in next st.

12) Cast on 2 sts, k to end, (11sts)

13) K4, p to end

14) K

Break yarn and rejoin to the other side of neck.

Work to match, reversing shaping’s and ending at winghole edge.

Next row – k, cast on 3, k across sts from other side of neck.

Next row , k4 inc in next st, p to last 5 sts, inc in next st, k4.

Inc 1 st at each end of every fol 6th row until there are 41 sts on the needle.

Work 6 rows straight.

Change to gst and knit 4 rows.

Cast off.

Sew on buttons or Velcro as desired.

Work double crochet around neck.

http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/jumpers.aspx

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Simple Topiary Chickens Without Trimming

By S. Roberts

Since I was a child I have always admired topiary. The art of creating a living sculpture from buses and trees has always appealed to me. I would look in aura at topiary peacocks, squirrels and bunnies, even if they weren't particularly well formed.

I remember also as a child my mother clipping three small box buses into dome like shapes. Not quite the sculptures I admired but certainly less brash and easier to maintain. Funny to thick that nowadays simple topiary of geometric shapes is so popular, more so than the more elaborate birds and animals that were so fashionable in by gone days.

We recently moved house and in the garden were two dwarf conifers, which were rather old and had reached a height of four and five feet. I have never been a fan of conifers because they sap the earth's goodness without a single bloom to show for it.

Not really wanting such dull specimens in the garden I pondered on how to make them more appealing. And with a little tree training I transformed the two trees into a Mother hen and chick, giving a topiary appearance without any of the hedge clipping of trimming skills.

How to make a Topiary looking chicken...
Take an aged dwarf conifer and look down into the construction of its stems or branches. The tree sends up 'clumps' Mentally divide these clumps into four.

The tallest clump will form the head.
The smallest will be left as a tail.
The other two clumps will form the chicken’s wings.

You may have to dig the tree up if the largest clump is facing the wrong direction. But with a good watering the tree can be replanted happily.

Using a length of green garden wire, fix one end of the wire to just above half way up a wing clump. Then thread the wire down through the main body of the chicken so that the wire can not be seen. Pull the wire so that the clump bends down to form a right angle, this forms the wing. The tip of the clump points out behind the chicken. Fix the other end of the wire to the to the woody base of the tree where it wont be noticed. Do the same to the wing on the other side of the tree.

Creating the head of the chicken works on a similar principle to the wings. Attach one end of a piece of garden wire approximately one quarter of the way from the tip of the head clump and pull the tip down and bend it over roughly 45 degrees to form the head. Fix the other end of the wire to the main branch f the head clump. Arrange the greenery to hide the wire.

Leave the chickens tail to stand upright proudly at the back.

As a finishing touch wire a couple of fir cones in place as eyes.

The result is simple topiary chickens that don't require clipping and continual trimming. I'm sure you will agree that they are 'cheep' and cheerful.


Garden Tools and Supplies




S. Roberts wrie for http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/ http://www.artclaysupplies.co.uk/ and http://www.bigboystoyz.com/