Constructing Your Own Hen Houses Has Many Advantages
Hens can be housed in portable chicken arks, permanent hen houses, or permitted to reside outside without any shelter whatsoever.
All forms of living arrangements have distinct advantages, but previous to deciding on which type is best for you it is prudent to take into account a few things first.
It is imperative to make a good selection or you can end up with unhealthy hens that produce a very small amount of eggs.
The easiest approach is clearly to construct no hen house at all.
Letting your chickens run around in the yard can save you a lot of money since they will be able to obtain all of their own food which will do away with your food bill entirely.
Additionally, you won't have to spend money, time, or labor to build a chicken coop for them.
At first glance it all sounds very good, but there are several key problems following this approach.
First of all, if your hens are permitted to look for all of their own meals entirely they will fill up on available plants and grasses in place of crucial protein and calcium.
Too little protein will result in feeble egg production.
They also require an ample quantity of calcium to generate strong egg shells, but they will not get it on their own.
The resolution to this dilemma is to provide them with a supplemental feed that includes sufficient amounts of calcium and protein.
Another potential dilemma with allowing your flock to free range is the danger of wild predators.
Neighborhood pets and wild animals are always searching for something delicious to munch on and your hens will look enormously tasty to them.
Because of this risk it's critical to give your chickens some variety of refuge where they can stay protected from wild predators.
This is where transportable chicken tractors or stationary hen houses are needed.
If you intend on keeping just a few pullets you can erect a diminutive portable chicken ark, also known as a chicken tractor.
These moveable coops will sustain up to 5 or 6 hens, but that's about the maximum.
If you would like to successfully raise more chickens than this you will need to manufacture a bigger hen house to protect your birds.
Hen houses, also known as chicken coops, have numerous advantages over transportable chicken arks, the most apparent being that you have the extra space to raise more chickens.
Every chicken must be given around 3 square feet.
A 50 square foot hen house (5 feet by 10 feet) can hold about 16 hens.
With commercially hatched white leghorns you can expect to gather roughly 14 eggs per day.
This will typically be ample for a home chicken grower.
The bigger size of a hen house offers another advantage.
Your chickens will have more breathing room which is important.
Excessively crowded hens have an inclination to peck at each other, also identified as cannibalism among the flock, which can eventually lead to death.
Supplying your chickens some extra room can stop this problem.
The finest chicken coops will have two separate areas; a framed wood house and an out-of-doors caged area.
The inside area is where the feeders, waterers, and nests will be situated.
Watering your chickens in a permanent hen house can be automatic since the water fountains can obtain their water from a nearby faucet.
This means you won't have to replace the water each and every day as would be essential with a transportable ark or tractor.
All forms of living arrangements have distinct advantages, but previous to deciding on which type is best for you it is prudent to take into account a few things first.
It is imperative to make a good selection or you can end up with unhealthy hens that produce a very small amount of eggs.
The easiest approach is clearly to construct no hen house at all.
Letting your chickens run around in the yard can save you a lot of money since they will be able to obtain all of their own food which will do away with your food bill entirely.
Additionally, you won't have to spend money, time, or labor to build a chicken coop for them.
At first glance it all sounds very good, but there are several key problems following this approach.
First of all, if your hens are permitted to look for all of their own meals entirely they will fill up on available plants and grasses in place of crucial protein and calcium.
Too little protein will result in feeble egg production.
They also require an ample quantity of calcium to generate strong egg shells, but they will not get it on their own.
The resolution to this dilemma is to provide them with a supplemental feed that includes sufficient amounts of calcium and protein.
Another potential dilemma with allowing your flock to free range is the danger of wild predators.
Neighborhood pets and wild animals are always searching for something delicious to munch on and your hens will look enormously tasty to them.
Because of this risk it's critical to give your chickens some variety of refuge where they can stay protected from wild predators.
This is where transportable chicken tractors or stationary hen houses are needed.
If you intend on keeping just a few pullets you can erect a diminutive portable chicken ark, also known as a chicken tractor.
These moveable coops will sustain up to 5 or 6 hens, but that's about the maximum.
If you would like to successfully raise more chickens than this you will need to manufacture a bigger hen house to protect your birds.
Hen houses, also known as chicken coops, have numerous advantages over transportable chicken arks, the most apparent being that you have the extra space to raise more chickens.
Every chicken must be given around 3 square feet.
A 50 square foot hen house (5 feet by 10 feet) can hold about 16 hens.
With commercially hatched white leghorns you can expect to gather roughly 14 eggs per day.
This will typically be ample for a home chicken grower.
The bigger size of a hen house offers another advantage.
Your chickens will have more breathing room which is important.
Excessively crowded hens have an inclination to peck at each other, also identified as cannibalism among the flock, which can eventually lead to death.
Supplying your chickens some extra room can stop this problem.
The finest chicken coops will have two separate areas; a framed wood house and an out-of-doors caged area.
The inside area is where the feeders, waterers, and nests will be situated.
Watering your chickens in a permanent hen house can be automatic since the water fountains can obtain their water from a nearby faucet.
This means you won't have to replace the water each and every day as would be essential with a transportable ark or tractor.