Building Chicken Coops

I have seen many people with chickens in their garden, and I had always wondered how they could keep their chickens inside without having to run around all over the place to keep them in. looking at them tend their really tame chickens has made me wonder what they do to make their chickens so ‘good’ and not ‘naughty.’ Well, I decided to read and research and I found some of the most amazing answers for keeping these birds at bay.

Tip #1 – build a chicken coop. there are some DIY chicken coops which can be bought online and all you need to do is to assemble the coops by following the simple instructions. They are easy enough to follow and all you need is a hammer and some screw drivers. Also, you need to be able to follow simple diagrams.

Tip #2 – if you don’t like them cooped up for you feel sorry for them, you can build them a chicken run attached to the coop. The chickens could go run along that run and have the time of their lives and get back into the coop for shelter.

Tip #3 – buy chicks and put them in the coop. if you buy them young they can get used to the area much easier and will grow up in the back yard. They won’t run.

Tips #4 – if you buy them older, then you need to make sure they can’t get around much. Some use a bird tie where one end is tied off and the other is looped to the leg of the chicken. They will get used to the place after a few weeks and the tie could be removed afterwards.

Tip #5– clip the wings of the chickens. The chickens could fly, they are birds and if they want to fly they will. Clipping their wings means you cut the feathers at edge of the wings. I once talked to a city girl and she was so mad when I mentioned clipping the wings. She actually thought that the clipping meant to cut off the wings. No, it is only the feathers that are cut. The chickens are safe and sound. You will need to do these often until the chickens trust the area and won’t wander and fly off.

Tip #6 – feed them well and within a time schedule. Chickens may be bird brained but they can be trained and once they know your feeding schedule they will come to rely on that so they won’t go anywhere else for feed. They will simply wait and peck around the backyard until you come around.

Tip #7 – if you can feed them, you have to water them as well. Do you know that chickens love to bathe? Some people think that all they need to do is to put a watering container off on one side and place vitamins in it. What some don’t know is that if there were a basin of water the chickens like to flutter their feathers in it and bathe themselves.

Tip #8 – do you know that chickens will answer to their names and your call. Okay, so you may think that they are not dogs, but that is where you are wrong. Chickens can be given names and they will answer if called, they are even better at it than cats. You don’t have to give them names, all they need is to hear your voice. So talk to them and they will learn to trust you and once they trust, you don’t even have to clip their wings anymore.

Tip #9- If you have new chickens, make sure the chicks are cooped and separated from the older ones until they are big enough to fend for themselves. Then you can slowly introduce them to the rest and they will just ‘follow the leader.’

Tip #10 – Make sure there are no predators. If these come into the back yard easily the chickens will learn to distrust and run away, or fly off. And they can fly, maybe not great distances, but enough.