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Have you thought of keeping chickens as pets? Most people would rather get a dog, cat, hamster, gold fish etc as pet but seldom chicken. One of the benefits of raising your own chickens is the fresh and delicious eggs the hens produce. A healthy hen will lay up to 5 eggs every week. If you have a dozen hens, the number of eggs they produce will be sufficient for your family consumption. Unfortunately, because of their reliably small size, bantams are prone to attacks by cats, dogs, raccoons, etc. To keep them safe, it is recommended for you to build a chicken coop for your poultry to live in.
The best chicken shelter would be one that you make yourself. By doing this, you can custom built all the facilities required. One feature that you do not want to miss out is the nesting boxes for the hens. Hens will tend to lay more eggs when they feel safe and secure. One way of doing so is for them to have their own nesting box to brood.
You can make the box out of wood, metal or plastic. Wood panel is the most common choice. If you have the budget, try to use plastic building material because they are much easier to clean.
The exact dimension of the nesting box is not really important. The key is for it to have a reasonable size to fit the chicken when they crouch down. What's more important is the filler material. You want to use something that is dry, clean and retains heat. Some wood chippings or a pile of hay would do just fine.
Finally, it would be a good idea to make an access door on your chicken coop which is near the nesting boxes. This will make it easier for you to retrieve the eggs.
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Source by Kathy O'Connor
