This question is asked as you may have already guessed, to set you thinking. Does your hen house provide the factors of environment which you want in your home? If it does not then it is also unlikely to be a suitable place in which to keep your hens.
Ask yourself these questions :
Is your poultry house well ventilated?
Does it provide an abundance of sunlight?
Ask yourself these questions :
Is your poultry house well ventilated?
Does it provide an abundance of sunlight?
Is there shade available for very hot days?
Can you keep the floor dry in winter?
Are the birds protected against severe weather conditions?
Is it sanitary?
Hens, like humans, should be kept happy and healthy if you are going to expect real work out of them. There is probably no such thing as one best house for all conditions or all locations but it does make sense that a flock crowded into dark, damp, filthy quarters are much more likely to have worse health and happiness than a flock living in airy sunny clean quarters.
Can you keep the floor dry in winter?
Are the birds protected against severe weather conditions?
Is it sanitary?
Hens, like humans, should be kept happy and healthy if you are going to expect real work out of them. There is probably no such thing as one best house for all conditions or all locations but it does make sense that a flock crowded into dark, damp, filthy quarters are much more likely to have worse health and happiness than a flock living in airy sunny clean quarters.
7 comments:
No offense, but this article/posting sounds like you expect a human to live in the same conditions as a bird! Yes, my chickens have plenty of air, shade, sun, protection, etc but I do not coddle my chickens (source of food and income) and would not live in their home. We get down to negative 35 some winters and while I have never lost one to cold or frostbite, **I** would die. Same for our super hot summers.
Presumably the question is, "Would you want to live there if you were a chicken?" Although I now have a mental picture of myself tucking my chickens in bed in my spare bedroom. :)
Id have to agree with the above comment. would you live in your barn with your cows? Yes, keep your coop clean, have fresh water and food available. They are animals, not humans.
Haha obviously this is just a theoretical question. My henhouse is clean and pleasant and probably much tidier than my house.
I actually did live in a hen house when I was a baby. My grandfather kept chickens during WWII to sell and he was a phenomenal carpenter so he built his own hen houses and he built them solidly. After the war, he got rid of the hens but kept the hen houses. After I was born, my mom and dad moved back to live with my mom's parents and, since my grandfather was building a new house, he, my grandmother, my two aunts, my mom and dad, and me, all lived in the hen houses. There is a picture of me somewhere crawling on the floor of the hen house we lived in. The couple who own's my grandfather's former property tore down the hen houses when they expanded the house. They told me that they were still in good condition when they were demolished so those hen houses stood for at least 40 years. So, at least as far as my grandfather's hen houses, the answer is yes, we would live in his hen houses.
when we were kids our neighbor girl had a large hen house and we cleaned it up and played "house" in it and even slept in there w the chickens a couple of times. I have also slept in the barn w cows and horses (on the top of the hay in the rafters) it was fun living in the country
We always joke that if we got rid of the chickens, 2 of the coops would make awesome visitor houses "summer camp style" lol
~L
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