The Economy of Laying Hens
You might wonder, with food prices increasing, if it is time to raise laying hens. Laying hens can be a hedge against food inflation. Especially if you have a family of growing kids, having a backyard source for eggs and vegetables can save you a significant amount of money.
Chicken Coop Planning Can Save Time & Money
It is not too early to plan for chickens for next year. Starting with well-made windows is a must for having a weather-tight chicken coop. Our customers have sent us photos over the years of their chicken coop designs, and they have come in every size and style. All of our backyard farmers agree that good planning helps a chicken coop design turn out great. For your best selection in chicken coop windows, count on Shed Windows and More.
There are some simple questions to ask yourself before you start gathering together materials and ordering your supplies:
What Are Your Goals with Raising Chickens?
- How many chickens do you plan to keep?
- How many eggs does your family consume a week?
- How much space do you have?
- Do you want your chickens to run freely or be only caged?
- What is the purpose of having your chickens: 4-H project, family eggs, small farm business, etc.?
Raising Backyard Chickens
Do you want to buy laying hens or would you like to start with chicks and a brooder?
- Brooder: Using a brooder with a heat source to keep the chicks at the correct and constant temperature to ensure their good health is pretty simple. An area with no drafts, a good-sized box, and a heat lamp is all you need.
- Temperature: You usually start your chicks at 95 degrees and decrease the temperature about 5 degrees a week until they are fully feathered.
- Feed: Providing your chicks with chick starter feed and a simple waterer in the brooder works. You want to make sure that both the feed and water cannot be easily knocked over by growing chicks.
- Bedding: The easiest solution for bedding is pine shavings or rice straw. Avoid using newspapers as bedding since it can be slippery and they can try eating it.
Designing Your Chicken Coop
With some planning your chicken coop whether a backyard chicken coop or a small family farm chicken coop can come together effortlessly:
- Height-Two to three feet off the ground makes your coop more predator proof, too close to the ground and your chicken coop can easily be accessed by rodents.
- Insulation-Chickens are hardy animals and can withstand temperatures down to 30 degrees. If your climate gets temperatures below 30 or over 90 degrees, consider insulating your coop well to keep your chickens in good health. Heat lamps are a small investment and can raise the temperature and help with production since chickens like around 12-14 hours of sunlight a day for optimal laying conditions.
- Ventilation-Because chickens eliminate in their coop, it is important to have proper ventilation covered with chicken wire. Making your coop movable by installing wheels allows you to harvest the chicken manure easily.
- Food & Water-Make it easy and automatic, so you are only needing to fill the feed weekly and freshen the water a couple of times a week. Some of our customers put in automatic watering systems and feed leveling systems making the food and watering of their chickens very simple.
- Perches-You need enough perch space so your chickens can perch without touching each other.
- Litter-Litter is needed inside the coop floor below the screening and in the laying boxes to keep the eggs warm. Using rice straw, which has no seeds, makes for excellent litter since it doesn't produce seeds in your compost.
- Nesting Boxes-Your chicken's nesting box can be as simple as a plastic or rubberized box; easy to clean, simple to fill with nesting materials.
- Ramp-With an elevated coop, your chickens will need a way to go from their coop to the chicken yard; a simple plank with horizontal slats placed a one-foot intervals makes for good traction and makes it easy for your chickens to exit to their fenced yard.
- Fencing-Provide predator-proof fencing for your chickens; either wrapping the edges and using landscape clothes pegs to keep in place, or some other means for predator proofing your chicken yard.
- Location-Positioning your chicken coop so it has some shade during the day, but the early morning sun shines on your coop makes for the best laying conditions. A great idea is putting wheels on a smaller coop so you can position it for maximum sunlight and also harvest the chicken manure for compost.
Taking the time to plan your chicken coop can save you both time and money in the long run. Also, a well-thought-out chicken coop makes for happy hens and better egg production. View our chicken coop windows for the best selection of sizes and colors for your chicken coop design.