Vital Steps for Manufacturing an Inexpensive Chicken Ark



Posted: Saturday, January 02, 2010

by Joshua Hardingur
JMS

A lot of people who have contemplated raising a few hens in their yard decide against it since they think it is too much work to build a poultry house. Or they believe they don't possess the needed space to raise them effectively. Conversely, utilizing a chicken ark will usually allow you to successfully raise poultry in a small yard with no trouble. In fact, poultry can even be raised in a tiny garage. You can successfully grow a lot of fresh eggs in a teeny 25 square foot area in your garage by piling a few cages one on top of each other. Planning ahead and doing things correctly will make it possible to successfully raise fresh organic eggs in an extremely tiny area.

The first thing you need to ask is "how many fresh eggs do I want every day?" If you wish to successfully raise enough pullets to lay 4 eggs each day, or 1 dozen eggs every three days, it is likely you will want roughly 5 hens. This amount will without doubt be supported in a small ark. High-quality commercially grown white leghorns will supply you with an egg nearly every day if you feed them properly and give them an adequate amount of light.

Many backyard growers will raise unproductive pullets that produce very few eggs since the owners don't comprehend the magnitude of providing their birds a high quality feed. Pullets demand a lot of protein, calcium, and additional nutrients for optimum physical health and production so it's important to give it to them. A tiny chicken ark will allow your hens to find a portion of their own rations, but a high quality feed needs to supplement their diet if you are expecting them to supply you with eggs constantly.

8 hens is probably the greatest number you can expect to keep in a single chicken ark. If you wish to grow more poultry it will be necessary to make more than one single portable ark. Generally, at least 2.5 to 3.0 square feet of space is needed for each individual hen. A 24 square-foot portable ark will be able to keep roughly 8 chickens. Nevertheless, if you can offer more space for each individual hen you will lessen the possibility of cannibalism. If chickens are too crowded they will usually peck each other even to the point of fatalities in the flock.

Chicken arks provide many advantages, but there are three key ones. First, they are simple and inexpensive to put together. Second, your hens can consume plants, grasses, and insect life which will drop your food costs and help keep your pullets in better health. And third, you can grow them in limited areas, making it achievable for almost anyone to successfully raise their own fresh organic eggs.

Manufacturing a chicken ark is truly fairly easy. The easiest structures are manufactured as "A" frames which mean they will be manufactured in the shape of a triangle. The floor will typically be approximately 4 feet wide by 6 feet long, but can be made bigger or smaller as needed. Nonetheless, as a replacement for making a wooden bottom, the ground itself will be the floor. Two 6-foot 2x4s and two 4-foot 2x4s fastened together will create the base.

The "A" frame will be fastened to the bottom foundation and framed with either 2x4s or 2x2s. The "A" frame section will have wire fastened to its frame to let clean air and sunshine into the cage, but can have the upper portion covered in outdoor plywood to provide the hens shade and shelter from direct sunshine. You can alter this plan by altering its dimensions, building it square-shaped instead of triangular, or performing further modifications as necessary.

Since the earth itself is the floor, your chickens can dine on all of the plant and insect life residing within their home. Scratching around for a bit of their own meals can keep them happier and healthier. When one site has been completely cleaned out by your hens you can simply drag your portable ark to another site with more luscious plant growth. But don't forget, for top egg production give them a nutritious feed as a complement to their wild diet.

Mr. Harding has raised poultry for over two decades and has made many poultry houses throughout that time. He is an authority in raising poultry for egg and meat production. He has an educational site where you will be able to get lots more info about making a cheap chicken ark, raising poultry, assembling your own chicken feed, and more.
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