Just as mankind has evolved from dwell dank , dark caves , today ’s domestic chickens have want no longer come across by the covering of a rain forest . The ancestral red junglefowl might have make it just o.k. in the wild of Asia , but today ’s modern flocks face many more challenge . These admit divers weather term , seasonal temperature alteration , a all-encompassing mixed bag of predators and our own impact on the world around us . aid ensure your wench live a long , healthy life by comply these do and don’ts for provide proper trapping .
DO: Provide Your Flock With A Dedicated Home
Regardless of whether you choose a mobile chicken tractor or a permanent coop for housing , make certain that your chickens ’ shelter is exclusively for them . put up them with other animals — especially turgid livestock — can result in antsy temperaments , accidental injury and even death . Bunking your hens with other bird , such as Meleagris gallopavo , is also not recommend , due to opening of illnesses such as blackhead disease passing between bird species .
DON’T: Neglect to Make Your Shelter Watertight
The costliest clothes designer coop is completely worthless as housing for chckens if it ca n’t keep out haste . Roofs , doorways and window that leakage let rain and melting Charles Percy Snow into the henhouse , cool your birds ; create a mucky spate of the story and droppings ; encouraging mold , mould and bacterial growth ; and potentially causing conditions such as frostbite and bumblefoot . Before your birds move in , exhaustively caulk and varnish your coop to keep out drafts and wetness .
DO: Provide Proper Ventilation
Your miss may be sweet natured , but the by-product they make most definitely are not . Withoutproper ventilationin housing , the carbon dioxide free by their breathing and the hydrogen sulphide , carbon dioxide , methane and ammonium hydroxide unloose by their dung will rest trapped within the hencoop , make a noxious cocktail of exhaust possible lethal to your layers .
A well - ventilate hencoop allows for these gases to safely fool away while allow in fresh air . right ventilation also allows the heat and moisture naturally generated by your birds to escape , an important thoughtfulness in summertime , when high temperature and humidity can adversely affect a fold .
DON’T: Overventilate Your Coop
Too much of a good thing can be just as detrimental to your crybaby as too little , especially when it comes to flow of air in housing . While generously proportioned ventilation opening allow harmful gases to exit , they also permit chilly air and haste to enter . This could be fatal , bet on your geographic location and the breed(s ) you ’re arouse .
My New Jersey friend learned this the hard direction . She had read at an online poultry blog that 1⁄5 of her henhouse ’s bulwark should be vent and faithfully had her cage built with the upper 1⁄5 nothing but assailable space and morphologic backing . Her Silkies and bantam had plenty of refreshing air during the summertime and fall , then became chicksicles when a November nor’easter strike .
DO: Install Roosts For Perching
Like all other birds , chicken instinctively perch to rest , sleep and do their feet . They ’ll primp on a perch , trim back their talons on a perch and even socialize on a rod . They also seek the security of higher ground — such as a perch — when they feel alarmed . Outfitting your coop with a roost not only contributes to your heap ’s health and well - being but also to its comfort and felicity .
DON’T: Leave Your Birds Cooped Up All Day
No matter how richly outfit your living accommodations may be , your flock will go stir sick if it ca n’t get out and roam . chicken are naturally inquisitive wight . They need to search , scratch , dig and otherwise adventure out in their run or , if you free - chain of mountains , your cubic yard . While an casual shut - in day might fall out due to grave wintertime weather , even when there ’s snow on the ground , open up your henhouse door to pop the question your miss the alternative to go out .
DO: Include Nest Boxes
hen of course seek out the darkest , quietest billet to lay their eggs , an inherent aptitude dating back to the thrust to protect the next generation . add together nest boxes to the hencoop will give your girls a good and convenient shoes in which to lie in and an easy egg - aggregation location for you .
Supply one nest boxwood for every four hens in your fold to preclude them from all crowding together to lie at the same time .
DON’T: Forget To Use Nest-Box Lining Material
The sturdiest nest box wo n’t be worth much if you neglect to provide nesting material . Your hens will put their eggs inside but , without a cushy liner to trip up the egg , all their effort will be sputter . Nest - box liner stuff should be soft , absorbent , inexpensive and easy to strip .
Straw , smoke clippings and wood shavings are all excellent bedding choices for chicken housing . The hens can work these to their substance ’ desire before settling down to lay and , when soiled , the litter can be effortlessly composted . Some poultry - supplying company deal ready - made nest - boxwood inking pad of aspen and pine fiber , which cut down on mess and last longer .
DO: Install Secure Fencing & Screening
From the neighbour ’s detent to the evening phalanger , everyone wants to get at your girls . If you ’ve select a confined coop or a coop with an impound run for your sight , indue in unattackable fencing material to keep out possible predators .
grasp your fencing material down 18 to 24 inches below primer aerofoil ; this will thwart excavate carnivore such as racoon from give their address .
Use 1⁄4 - inch hardware mesh topology for at least the low 3 feet of your streak ; the tightly - woven wire will prevent predators from reaching through the fence to grab at your bird and will keep your chicks and juveniles from run away .
Be sure to track your respiration openings with 1⁄4 - inch mesh as well . Standard 2 - by-4 meshing might keep raccoon from getting in but wo n’t block access code to weasels and smaller predators .
DON’T: Overpopulate Your Coop
raise chickens can be an addictive pleasure . You do out to raise perhaps four hen and , the next affair you know , you ’ve got 11 . While a flourishing batch is a joy to have , house them in undersize adjustment can turn that joy into a nightmare .
Birds that finger crammed and overcrowded quickly become distressed ; they start picking their own and their coop - mates ’ plumage , slow down down or cease eggs production , and crusade amongst themselves . Do n’t buy into the “ birds only utilize their chicken coop to sleep at Nox , so it can be minor ” myth . Like anybody else , chicken need elbow room to move , disperse their wing , take the air around and socialize .
If your muckle ’s feeders and water boy are put in inside your coop , sufficient space around these is vital to preclude jostle and brawls as your birds attempt to use up and toast . Lack of interior caparison space can also physically affect your flock ’s wellness , peculiarly if there is miserable ventilation .
DO: Regularly Clean Your Coop
Dust is a chicken ’s natural companion . No matter how kempt you in person may be , you ’ll be fighting a losing battle if you expect your henhouse to see like a horticulture magazine pic spread .
Dust come from a hen ’s skin , feathering and muck . It hail from chicken feed and bedding material . It make out from the outdoors . It ’s ubiquitous in the world of domestic fowl keeping .
Do n’t confuse in the towel , though . alternatively , expend that towel and an animal - safe strip solution—1⁄2 cup vinegar and 1⁄4 cup bake soda mixed into 1⁄2 cup body of water — to scrub your chicken coop ’s walls , windowpane , nest boxes , feeders and waterers . depend on the size of your flock , you may wish to do this weekly , monthly or seasonally . ( For more cleanup tips , see “ Coop Cleanliness ” on page 44 . )
Beyond dust and grime , however , is the handling of your flock ’s manure . Again , clean frequency will bet on the size of it of your flock . When it ’s time to get down and dirty , wear employment gloves and practice an assortment of tools — shovels , rake , ling and hand spades that you keep alone for domestic fowl chores — to best the poop and soiled litter from every corner and cranny of your coop . Use a wheelbarrow to drag the manure and litter to your compost heap . ( go over your local ordinances regarding the electric pig of stock manure . ) Then , exhaustively clean and sanitize your hencoop .
Your chicken will dissemble as if you ’ve pass on them a new habitation and will spend time of day exploring their tidied surroundings .
DON’T: Forget Human-Sized Doors
Even though your chicken coop is specifically for the birds , you will need to be able to enter the interior for a wide assortment of reason : cleaning , reaching for an egg laid out of place , refilling feeder and waterer , and tending to sick or injured birds that are cover in corners . Be sure to project a human - sized entree threshold to your coop ’s central area , and do n’t forget to add an access panel to your nest boxes , so you could collect eggs without give birth to go inside the hencoop to do so .
Regardless of what size of it , architectural innovation , and décor you select for your henhouse , by follow these guidelines , you ’ll provide your volaille with a comfortable , secure shelter they can call home for years to total .
This story originally appeared in the September / October 2017 issue ofChickensmagazine .
