Benefits To Making Your Own Hen Houses

Chickens can be kept in movable (portable) chicken arks, stationary (permanent) hen houses, or allowed to exist outdoors with no shelter at all. Every kind of living arrangement has distinctive advantages, but prior to choosing what type is best for you it is prudent to consider a few things first. It is crucial to make a good choice or you can end up with sickly poultry that supply you with very few eggs.

The easiest option is obviously to assemble no hen house at all. Allowing your flock to run free in the yard will normally save you a great deal of cash due to the fact that they will be able to obtain all of their own food which will eradicate your feed bill entirely. Furthermore, you won't need to go to the expense or trouble to build a coop for them. It all sounds very good, but there are some key issues following this tactic.

First, if your chickens are allowed to hunt for all of their own food they will certainly fill up on accessible plants in place of crucial protein. Not enough protein will result in meager egg production. They also must have a sufficient amount of calcium to produce hard egg shells, but they won't get it eating plants and grasses. The resolution to this dilemma is to simply give them a supplemental feed that contains plentiful quantities of calcium and protein.

A second possible dilemma with letting your flock free range is the danger of wild predators. Neighboring pets and wild animals will see your hens as their next meal. Because of this danger it's critical to provide your flock some type of sanctuary where they can stay out of harm's way from wild predators. This is where movable chicken arks or permanent hen houses come in.

If you aim to keep just a few birds you can put together a diminutive portable chicken ark, also known as a chicken tractor. These moveable houses will hold about 3 to 6 birds, but no more. If you would like to raise more chickens than this you can manufacture a bigger hen house to shelter your birds.

Hen houses, also known as chicken coops, have some advantages over moveable chicken houses, the most apparent being that you will be able to raise more chickens. The minimum space requirements per bird will be around 3 square feet. A 50 square foot poultry coop (5 feet wide by 10 feet long) can sufficiently house approximately 16 birds. With production-bred white leghorns you can expect to gather roughly 14 eggs each day. This should be more than enough for a home chicken grower.

Another advantage of a hen house is their size. They can give your chickens more area which is important. Overly crowded birds have a penchant for pecking each other, also known as cannibalism, which can in time lead to death. Supplying your flock a little extra room can put a stop to this source of concern.

The greatest chicken houses will have two separate parts; a framed wood house and an out-of-doors area enclosed by wire. The interior section is where the feeders, water fountains, and nesting boxes are found. Watering your flock in a stationary (permanent) hen house can be automatically controlled because the water fountains can get their water from a normal faucet. This means you won't have to replace the water every day as would be essential with a moveable ark or tractor.