Chickens are some of the most amazing pets in the world and also some of the most underrated and looked over pets. They are very fun, friendly, produce fresh eggs for you and are great gardeners who produce fertilizer for your plants and will kill pests and bugs that will harm them. In order to keep your chickens safe from predators, keep them happy, and keep them healthy, you will need a well constructed chicken pen. This article will help you make a list of materials and tools you will need to build your own run.
Your location will play a large role in what kinds of chickens you should be raising, how many chickens you can legally own and even if you are allowed to have chickens at all. If you live in Hawaii you probably won\’t need at much protection from the weather as you would if you lived in Massachusetts. The same goes for the breed of chicken you should be buying, there are certain chickens that are great in the cold weather and others who will not survive. So before you get ahead of yourself, figure out what breeds you need for your location and also if you live in a city where there might be restrictions on owning livestock, find out how many chickens you can legally own and if you need a permit for your coop.
For the chicken run or pen area, it is very common to use just posts and wire. This is definitely the simplest design and can be completed easily in a day. You will need a hammer, wire cutters, a crowbar and a sledgehammer for tools. And of course, posts and wire for the materials. Fence posts are usually bought in bundles bout if you go somewhere like the home depot you can usually buy single posts. When choosing your wire, you can go with chicken wire or stucco wire. Stucco wire is stronger and is usually used on the sides of the pens, where the chicken wire can be placed under the ground to prevent animals from digging up.
Normal staples can be used to hook the wire into your fence posts. There are not any special type of staples for this job, so just get a staple gun and attach it with your standard staples. Staples are pretty inexpensive so don\’t skimp out on your pen, use a lot and make sure your wire is not going anywhere. A crowbar is a good tool for loosening the dirt where you want to dig your post hole. After loosening the dirt, use a shovel or post digger if you have one to dig down for your post. The higher your post is, the farther you will want to dig to make sure it is sturdy. Lastly, use a sledgehammer to pound the post into the hole.
Want to find out more about Chicken Coops, then visit my site on how to build more elaborate chicken runs and chicken coops.