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Monday, 14 April 2014

Chicken Coop Plans - What Everybody Ought To Know About It

06:49  , , ,  1 comment


If you want to do anything in life, there are always two ways to do it: the easy way and the hard way.Sadly, too many people always, consciously or unconsciously, choose the hard way to do things.You are doing things the hard way when you do things in such a way that it takes much longer to do something. You are doing things the hard way when your project costs more than it should. No doubt,doing things the hard way takes all the fun out of doing anything. Doing things the hard way makes the activity a chore-a hassle. In fact, things can become an ordeal. It's always a good idea to do things the easy way. It's always a good idea to do things in such a way where you don't end up wasting time,effort, or emotional energy. This piece of advice can apply to all aspects of your life. And if you are thinking of taking care of some backyard chickens, this advice can definitely apply to building chicken coops. You can either choose to build your own chicken coop based on your own designs or you can use pre-made, pre-tested chicken coop plans. In short, you can choose to do things the hard way or the easy way. Here are just some of the reasons why using chicken coop plans will save you time, effort,and motivation. The last thing you want to do is to lose your drive and passion for your backyard chicken project because your self-designed chicken coop fell apart.


 
Building a chicken coop on our own can be a crap shoot

While it is easy to understand why people would want to build their own chicken coops, the negatives easily outweigh the positives. Sure, you get to express your creativity. Sure, you get to use local materials. Sure, you get to build a chicken coop that truly reflects the local conditions of your backyard. However, the negatives clearly destroy these positives because, unless you are a professional carpenter, it is very hard to come up with a scalable, flexible, and durable design based on your skill and experience. Whatever you build might simply not be up to local conditions or might not last too long. In short, your design might be a crap shoot Don't leave your chickens' welfare to chance, use chicken coop plans instead. They have withstood the test of time and their dimensions have been tested by the many people that have tried them in the past.



The beauty of using templates

The great thing about using chicken coop plans is that you can use them as templates. These plans aren't set in stone. They are merely places you start from. If you are worried about local material sourcing or other concerns, you can easily make small changes to your chicken coop plans. This template-based approach has a higher chance of succeeding because you can make the necessary modifications working from a steady and tried base. Compare this with having to make changes from a plan you came out with. If you make changes to one part, the changes might have a bad effect on other parts. Most original designs are, by their nature, not modular. On the other hand, many chicken coop plans are modular or scalable in nature.

The right plans allow for customization

Since there are many different chicken coop plans out there, you can choose as to which plans leave the most space for customization. If you see yourself doing a lot of customization, you would want to pick chicken coop plans that have the most flexibility. You would pick chicken coop plans that offer a high level of customization. You don't get this choice when you are trying to design on the fly. The amount of customization and flexibility you get are based solely on your ability to think and plan ahead. Sadly, not all of us can do this. Still, failing to do so can end up costing you lots of money in terms of wasted
time, effort, and energy.

Narrow down your list of chicken coop plans based on type

When you work with chicken coop plans, you work with a number of plans which you can filter. Compare this with coming up with your own original designs. There's not much filtering because you are doing everything on the fly and from scratch. This can lead to disaster because it is too easy to get confused regarding design and features. One of the key filters you can apply to the different plans you come across is the type of chicken coop you'd like to build. Of course, you'd like to build a chicken coop that best meets the special needs of the breed of chicken you'd like to raise.




Refine your list of chicken coop plans based on materials

Another key consideration in planning and picking out the right chicken coop is the range of materials you have available locally. Your plans of raising chickens in your backyard can truly skyrocket if you pick chicken coop plans that require exotic or expensive materials. The good news about using pre-made plans is that you can quickly filter them based on their ability to use local materials. The more choices you have, the higher the chance you will pick a plan that can be built using purely local materials.

Don't get sucked into looking for the 'best' chicken coop plans

One of the biggest reasons many would-be backyard chicken raisers automatically want to build their own chicken coops using their own personal designs is the fact that they want to build the 'best' chicken coops. They don't think plans based on other people's needs or experiences will meet their definition of the 'best.' Talk about an expensive proposition! Just because you think of a particular layout and plan doesn't necessarily mean it is automatically the 'best.' After all, 'the best' is subjective and objective. It is too easy to get sucked into the subjective component of the best. After all, we tend to focus on what is the best in our estimation, our beliefs, and our expectations. However, you can't stop the analysis here. This is just half the story. You have to also look at objective elements of defining the 'best' chicken coop. These are objective standards that are present with pre-made chicken coop plans. Objective considerations such as hygiene, ease of cleaning, ease of feeding, portability, and other considerations you might not have thought about because you were too focused on your subjective need for the 'best' chicken coop. At the very least, considering pre-made plans for chicken coops enable you to pay attention to certain details and considerations you might not have considered, forgot about,or overlooked.




Factor in flexibility

Sure, you might feel that you need your chicken coop to look a certain way today. You might have a spot reserved for your chicken coop already. While things may look fixed and certain today, who knows what tomorrow will bring. Your plans might change. When you use chicken coop plans, you can easily filter for flexibility. When you try to build your own designs, on the other hand, you might not have planned to factor in flexibility. This can be a serious issue down the road. You might have to either tear down your chicken coop or you might have to spend a lot of money trying to get it to cope with changed conditions. You have to factor in flexibility from the very beginning. This is precisely what you get with many commercial chicken coop plans on the market or.

Factor in scalability

It is too easy to think that your chicken coop will stay in size. It truly is. After all, you are probably thinking that your flock will stay the same size. Sadly, this is almost always never the case. Your flock size will fluctuate in the future. Depending on the chicken operations you are running, you might experience an avian population explosion. Alternatively, your area might have foxes and these animals can truly cut down the number of chickens in your flock. This is why you have scalability designed into whatever chicken coop plan you are thinking of building. This is not always the case when you are building your own chicken coop from your own designs. You might think you have scalability factored in, but you will probably only truly know when it comes time to either scale up or scale down. By then, it would be too late. When you use pre-made chicken coop plans, on the other hand, you are working with blueprints that were intentionally scalable or have some scalability built in.

If you want your dreams of backyard chicken raising to truly pan out, you can't take chances with your choice of chicken coop. You might be sabotaging the success of your backyard chicken project by insisting on building your based on your own designs. You might think you're saving money now. You might think you're doing the right thing now. However, if you design your coop wrong, you might end up having to spend more trying to fix a self-inflicted problem. It might be a better idea to use pre-made chicken coop plans instead.












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Friday, 11 April 2014

Choosing a Chicken Breed to Raise

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There are various types of chickens to raise. Picking a breed will depend on the kind of chicken that you'd like to raise. There are chickens that seem healthy but their egg-laying capacity is frail while other chickens give out lots of eggs everyday. Before finally choosing the right chicken to raise, it's important to consider a lot of factors. 

Different angles should be considered such as the place where your chickens will live. Do you have a big backyard? Is it wide enough to let your chosen amount of chickens to roam? You'll have to think about this aspect mainly because chickens differ in breeds – some are small and others are large. Also, another factor is the environment you are residing. In case you’re living along the equator, it is expected that the temperature within that place be, most of the time, scorching hot. 

But if you’re living somewhere up above or down below, it becomes colder. At this point, which of this two are you? There are actually cross breeds that can resist whatever the weather that may come. Production Reds is among the list of typical examples. They can be tamed and are resistant to cold temperature. That is why, whenever you live in a place where it’s constantly cold, this kind of breed is the right one for you. Bantams can be quite a little bit hardheaded. They love to fly around, a good reason why pens can be worthless. These types of breeds are tough but pretty for their fluffiness is matchless. They are bad in laying eggs but if they do, their product is quite small and is not recommended for selling. 

The Pekins and Silkies are 2 of the best options when it comes to laying eggs. They come in different colors and types. If you try to crossbreed a silkie with a cochin bantam, you'll have an amazing breed as the result is a type which never bit, hurt or clawed anyone as confirmed by top breeders. Be careful with purebred chicken meat as they are quite fragile, they tend to choke their own food, and are prone to having heart attacks without any probable cause. 

If you are searching for a cheap egg-laying chicken, you can settle with a leghorn. Although you have to eventually clip their wings as they are flighty. Additionally, they are a bit scrawny so watch out! Some breeders dare not choose a leghorn because they are ugly and are high strung. 

Looking for a chicken that’s sweet? Try cross breeding Cochin bantams. Breeds that came from a Cochin bantam’s bloodline are amazing due to certain qualities like sweetness, manners, and you have a very wonderful breed that can easily be noticed in exhibitions. 

Barred Plymouth Rocks are also one of the top breeds. It’s like the best deal ever, all in one package. Why? Well, during summer season, they lay just about every day. They also have a healthy and good weight, are unbelievably pretty, and are not vicious. 

Americaunas come with an impeccable beauty that's more radiant because of their feathers. They have a color resembling a falcon’s – dark, golden feathers. Their beaks are nearly similar with a falcon’s mainly because several breeds have pretty curved beaks. They are indeed beautiful breeds and can withstand the coldness of the night or during wintertime but if you like squeezing eggs out of these breeds, what luck! Sad to say, they don’t lay really well. Breeds that are uncommon need more attention from the breeders so their breeds can survive. 

Choose the right chicken that you will raise.


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