New: Meal Planner
Plan your weekly meals instantly from anywhere on the web
Try the Meal Planner!
So you are about to launch your very own chicken-keeping enterprise? Congrats! No matter what your chicken coop might look like, a number of accessories are available —if not mandatory— to enhance your chicken-keeping experience, from safety to just plain fun. Use this quick list to determine what you need right now and what you can add later.
Choose the right chicken coop layout
The first piece of the puzzle. It should be robust and easy to assemble. The size will depend on how many hens you would like to keep. Whatever the size you go for, it should always the same features such as a covered living space, a ramp, a nesting box on the side with a lid to collect eggs easily, roosting bars, a removable tray for easy cleaning, and mesh wire to keep your chickens in and predators out.
Install a waterer
One of the most important element in a chicken’s diet is water. To ensure that clean, fresh water is available to your flock at all times, install a waterer in the coop. Waterers come in various types and designs, such as a portable fountain-type drinker and a bell-type drinker that can be hooked up to a low-pressure water line. This chicken waterer is modeled on a vintage design used on farms across America in the first half of the 20th century. The thick stoneware keeps water cool in the summer and prevent from freezing in winter.
Clean regularly
To keep your coop clean and dry and spread your preferred bedding material, a sleek rake is the perfect length and shape for reaching all the tight spaces within your coop.
Provide a sanitary nesting environment with nesting pads
Made from wood shavings, nesting pads are useful to pull moisture out and provide cleaner, fresher eggs by drawing chicken droppings to the liner below. The pads also decrease the likelihood of eggs breaking by providing a soft laying surface and help faster egg gathering by encouraging chickens to lay inside of nesting boxes.
Think beyond the traditional eggs basket
No more stuffing eggs in your coat pockets and then forgetting they are there. This apron allows you to collect your eggs and have free hands to do whatever other chores that need attending on your way back to the house.
Install a swing
If you want to provide activity and fun to your chickens, a swing is a good option since it doesn’t require much space. It’s pretty fun to watch them swing and get some enjoyment!
A few more basic accessories
The followingcoop accessories are essential to all coops, providing them with adequate sleeping, egg-laying locations and constant heat. Before you start thinking about fancier add-ons, make sure you incorporate these three fundamental enhancements into your flock’s coop.
- WARE Chicken Nesting Box, $22.00
- K&H Thermo-Peep Heated Pad, $29.00
- BYB Heat Emitter Lamp Bulb, $13.00
