published Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 10:08 pm by admin
When you are designing your chick coop, there are some chick coop dimensions you should keep in mind.You should know how many chicks you are planning to raise at one time.
This is important in chick coop dimensions as you do not want your chicks to be over crowded.When you chicks are crammed together in too tight of an area, they can spread disease and sickness much quicker.
Not only that, it is not sanitary.Baby chicks are like any baby; they need nurturing and are more susceptible to illness than a full grown chicken would be.By giving them plenty of space, you will have better success at healthy chicks and chickens.
You will also need to add in your chick coop dimensions an area for an incubation system if you plan on raising your chicks from an egg.This should be a room that is separate from the area that the baby and older chicks will be kept.You may also want to have a separate door for the incubator room so that you do not disturb the other chicks when you are in a hatching phase.
This room should also be large enough to handle the equipment plus you should have room to move around easily so that you do not get cramped while watching the hatching process.If you have children that you are going to include in the project, then you will want to give the room some more space for this as well.
You will also need to include a run for the older chicks when planning your chick coop dimensions.When the chicks are young, they will have a fuzzy down that will give way to full feather when the chicks turn six to eight weeks old.Once this happens, you can let the older chicks out of the chick coop to roam about outside and to get fresh air.
You want to have a run that will be comfortable for the amount of chicks you have or are planning to have each hatching cycle.Once the chicks have reached a few months old, they can then be moved to the main chicken coop or sold and that will make room for more of the hatchlings.
Make sure you also keep the chick protected when outside by burying your chicken wire below the ground.Once you have figured out the exact chick coop dimensions that are right for you, you can begin construction on your chick coop.
published Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 9:57 pm by admin
It can be difficult to find plans on how to build a chick coop.You can take a small chicken coop and modify the plans to be used as a coop by your chicks.Chicks have special needs that differ from grown chickens and these needs change as they age.When chicks first hatch, they need to be kept incubated for the first few days of their lives.While they still have their down feathers, they will also need to be kept warm and dry.When you are settling on your chick coop construction, you should keep these facts in mind.
When you are coming up with your design for your chick coop construction project, make sure you have a couple of windows that will let in the morning and early afternoon light.This will help to keep your chicks naturally warm and the sunlight will be good for them.They should remain inside until their down feathers are replaced by full feathers that will help to protect them more than the down does.Since they will spend the first six to eight weeks in the coop, the chick coop construction should allow for this period by keeping it warm, dry and secure.
Once the chicks have come into full feather, they will need a small run so that they can be out of doors.Make sure, when you start your chick coop construction, that you have the door to the coop facing the morning sun as well.Chickens are morning animals and will be out of doors mostly during the early part of the day and early after noon.You should also have part of the run in the shade in case the chicks want to keep cool in the summer months if you live in an extremely hot climate.
Finally, before you start your chick coop construction project, make sure you read through the design plans fully before you actually begin construction.You want to have all the materials and tools ready to go before you even break ground on the coop.The last thing you want to do when you are going to start any construction project, including chick coop construction, is to get half way through the project and find that you are missing some items or necessary tools to complete it. If you plan accordingly and read all the directions and have everything prepared before hand, you will have more success with your chick coop construction.
Mail this post