What Should I Look For When Buying A Chicken Coop?

Chicken Coop Essentials

• Easy to access; designed with two doors, an open/close nesting box and sliding doors making access easy for your hens.
• Easy to maintain; removable bottom tray which makes cleaning the coop, roost and nesting box easy.

How do you pick a good chicken coop?

Here’s a comprehensive checklist to help you select the best chicken coop for your flock.

1. The Appropriate Size for Your Chicken Keeping Needs.
2. Has Good Ventilation and Lighting.
3. Includes a Nesting Area for Hens.
4. Protects Chickens From Harsh Weather and Predators.
5. Provides Easy Access to Feed and Water.

What chicken coop should I buy?

The best coop size for your chickens depends on how many birds you intend to keep, what breeds you’ll be housing and whether they have outside access. It’s generally recommended that each bird have 2 to 4 square feet of space inside the coop if there is access to an outside run.

Should a chicken coop have a floor?

Not all chicken coops need floors, particularly those that use the deep litter method, have soil that drains well, and are well-designed to keep out predators. However, many coops without floors allow easy access for rodents and burrowing predators, are difficult to clean, and add too much moisture to the coop.

How much should I spend on a chicken coop?

How much does a chicken coop cost? The chicken coop cost is typically around $200 to $2000 if you buy them from Amazon or another store. You can build your own chicken coop for around $100 or less (for a very simple structure) or, if you can find pallets, you can build it for the cost of nails.

What color is best for a chicken coop?

White – will reflect heat in the summer, keeping the interior of the chicken coop cooler than dark colors. White also looks fresh and clean. Yellow – bright and sunny, yellow can have a calming effect on chickens. Orange – bright but not too intense, orange reminds chickens of daylight.

What is best for chicken coop bedding?

Medium- to coarse-grained sand is the best chicken coop bedding as it’s non-toxic, dries quickly, stays clean, is low in pathogens, and has low levels of dust. Sand is a much safer choice than all other bedding materials.

What goes on the bottom of a chicken coop?

What Do You Use on the Floor of the Coop? For the deep litter method, use pine shavings or hemp bedding as your bottom layer since they are small pieces and compost fairly quickly. Pine shavings are inexpensive and available online or at your local feed store in bales.

Are plastic chicken coops good?

Wooden chicken coops also take much longer to dry, exposing chickens to the elements for longer times or risk returning them to a damp coop. Plastic is the safest option for maintaining a disease-free environment. The smooth, nonporous surface of plastic makes coops impervious to pathogens. And cleaning is a breeze.

Do chicken coops need to be elevated?

Not all chicken coops need to be off the ground, but there are many benefits to having an elevated coop, including the prevention of high moisture in the coop (particularly in areas with run-off or flooding), protection from burrowing predators and rodents, extension of the size of the run, and shelter in the run from

What is the best thing to put on the ground in a chicken run?

The most suitable sand to use as chicken run soil is construction sand or river sand. This sand can also include small pebbles. Chicken raisers usually rake the droppings out of the sand instead of using a shovel. They then remove the top layer of sand every six months.

How often does a chicken coop need to be cleaned?

How often you should be cleaning a chicken coop? You should provide fresh food and fresh water every day, and you should clean the bedding out once a week or once a month(the deeper the bedding layer the less often you have to clean it out). It’s best practice to do a total clean-out at least twice a year.

What is the best surface for a chicken run?

In general, the best ground cover for a chicken run is anything that keeps the ground dry, safe, and comfortable for chickens while also being easy to clean as needed. Bedding material, sand, solid floors, and landscape mulches are popular options for running floors alone or used together.

Is it cheaper to build a chicken coop or buy one?

Building a coop is usually cheaper than buying one. But here’s the catch: constructing an abode for your flock takes know-how, tools, and time. If you don’t have these, then it makes more sense to buy — and there are many nice chicken coops for sale out there.

Is it cheaper to buy eggs or raise chickens?

It is cheaper to buy eggs than it is to raise chickens for eggs. It costs between $150 to $300 per year to buy a dozen eggs per week from a grocery store and around $500 per year to raise chickens that will produce a dozen eggs per week.

How much does an average chicken coop cost?

The typical cost range for a chicken coop is $300–$2,000. A large, high-end chicken coop can run $4,000 or more. Cost factors include coop material, style, and labor. You should also budget for ongoing costs and maintenance.

What colors do chickens hate?

Therefore, laying hens and breeding hens should be prohibited from lighting with yellow light. Yellow light can also induce chicken mites, so chickens of all ages should not be illuminated with yellow light.

What colors attract chickens?

Chickens are attracted to the color red. If you want to attract chickens to your coop, paint it and the nesting boxes a nice bright shade of red.

Why are chicken coops red?

Since chickens have a natural affinity for the color red, farm owners will paint their feeders and coop red so that they feel motivated to go up to them to eat or rest and lay eggs, respectively. Red can be used to encourage chickens to approach any object or human.

What do you do with chicken poop and pine shavings?

Chicken owners normally use bedding such as untreated pine shavings, sawdust, dry leaves, or straw to provide a dry cushion for chickens and to control odor and pests. The coop bedding can be collected with the manure and dumped into a composting bin.

How do you keep a dirt floor in a chicken coop clean?

Mix up equal parts white vinegar and water in a bucket OR just slosh straight vinegar onto your wet floor. I preferred the sloshing method personally. Take your broom or brush and give everything a vigorous scrubbing, making sure to distribute the vinegar solution as thoroughly as possible.