Finding hope for humanity – Yahoo! Canada News

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Fri Nov 14, 4:24 AM

For four months, Fred Van Zuiden and two fellow- Jewish fugitives didn’t dare speak above a whisper in their hideout inside a Dutch chicken coop.

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“When the Gestapo came, I ended up in the poultry pen — the chickens were living with us and the mice,” says Van Zuiden, who held his tongue for fear a farmer would turn them in.

He recalls the precise time, as an 11-year-old, that he and his family split up to go into hiding as the first Nazi death camp transports were readied.

“It was July 20, 1942, at 6 p.m.,” he says.

And he bittersweetly reflects on his status as Calgary’s male Anne Frank.

“I was a lot more fortunate … hers was a very sad story,” Van Zuiden says of the Jewish girl who perished in Bergen-Belsen after her family’s Amsterdam hiding place was betrayed to the Germans.

In a span of 26 months, the young Van Zuiden shifted hiding places 25 times — aided and abetted by the Dutch resistance.

In one photo taken outside a mental asylum where he sought refuge, Van Zuiden is well turned-out in a neat jacket and knee pants.

“The resistance always looked after me very well,” he explains.

So did a host of surrogate mothers who took him under their wings at the risk of death to themselves.

Hence, the title of a forthcoming book on his years on the run penned by the already-published Van Zuiden — So Many Moms.

His own mother died in 1942 and the family split into three to spare all being captured in one raid.

All Van Zuiden heard of his father, sister and brother in those two years was from a resistance fighter in mid-1943.

“He told me they were all alive,” he says.

So many others, including two female cousins in their 20s who’d shared a forest sanctuary with him, weren’t so lucky.

“They were caught there, they were never seen again,” he says.

In the same area, where he lived in holes dug under trees, a black-shirted Dutch Nazi menacingly questioned him during a roundup.

A savvy Van Zuiden talked his way out of it.

He talked himself out of other notions when a fugitive’s food in a hungry land became barely edible.

“When I fed the rotten potato peels to the pigs, I ate with them … the food was so bad I had thoughts of suicide,” says Van Zuiden.

But deliverance came, ironically, with an Allied defeat. Van Zuiden watched as British paratrooper aircraft were shot up by German gunners near Arnhem during the ill-fated Market Garden offensive of September 1944.

He managed to slip across British lines to freedom.

As the war came to a close and with the help of Canadian troops, he was reunited with his three family members in their hometown of Amersfoort.

After more than two years apart, his father hesitantly recognized him.

“He said ‘yes, you are my son’ and embraced me,” he says.

Not all was well. The stress of hiding forever changed his older brother’s mental state.

And when the conversation strays to what hasn’t been learned from those times, of Calgary neo-Nazis, to genocide in the 1990s Balkans to the irony of Holocaust victims’ descendents oppressing Palestinians, the miracle of Van Zuiden’s story is tempered.

He pulls out another old photo of one of his saviours — a Dutch resistance man named Carl Kauning, whose unit alone saved 500 Jews.

For a moment, Kauning’s black and white gaze is silent testimony to humanity’s possibilities.

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POLITICO Interview: Gov. Pawlenty – Yahoo! News

Short-listed as a running mate for GOP presidential nominee John McCain, Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty is known for his credo that Republicans need to reach “Sam’s Club voters. ” Now in his second term, Pawlenty is widely considered to be among his party’s top potential presidential contenders. 

POLITICO sat down with Pawlenty at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association to discuss the stimulus, bipartisanship and the future of the Republican Party.

Q: What’s your view of the stimulus? Will you take all the money?

A: I don’t like it for these reasons: One of them is, the federal government’s spending money they don’t have and they’re doing it at an excessive level … I thought it was telling to hear Secretary of State Clinton in China the other day … in a solicitous manner, thanking the Chinese for their continued purchase of our debt, how important that was to our country.

Two, the bill was not targeted and focused on meat-and-potato things that we know will be stimulative and have worked in the past, like tax cuts and like basic infrastructure improvements. And number three, it didn’t live up to the promise of President Obama saying he was … going to usher in a new era of bipartisanship. Clearly [it] was a reply on the old, bipartisan fault lines, and I think with some modest accommodations or changes in the bill he would have received more Republican support. 

Minnesota’s going to accept our share of the money unless we discover some clinkers in the bill as we continue to go through it, in large part because we’re paying the bill. We received the [fifth-least] amount of money of any state, and that’s unlike many other states, by the way.

It’s my understanding that almost all the governors are going to take almost all the money. There [is] only [a] small question that has arisen that relates to … unemployment insurance provisions. You know, that’s about 2 percent of the money. So when they say they’re not taking the money, if that’s all they don’t take, they’re still taking 98 percent of the money.

Q: When do you expect it to kick in and take effect?

A: It will vary depending on the part of the bill that you’re talking about. Some of the money is gonna come in in a couple weeks  …Other parts of it’ll come in in months and some of it even further down the road. Most economists believe … the economy isn’t going to bottom out until late ’09, early 2010. And then, of course, once the recession actually ends, it takes a while for these lagging indicators to fully stabilize.

Q: Would Minnesota have gotten a greater share of the stimulus money if you’d had two senators?

A: At least in that portion of the bill that you get as a matter of formula, it doesn’t seem to matter how many members of Congress you had.

But there’s part of it that’s going to be a competitive process and a grant process, so as we get into that phase of the stimulus it would always be helpful to have more members of Congress advocating for your grant application.

Q: You mentioned being disappointed about partisanship in the stimulus debate. What do you make of the Obama administration, so far?

A: With only 30 days of track record, you hate to make any final conclusions. But it seems to me there was a bit of false advertising, relative to what he was saying during the campaign.

One of his central tenets in the campaign was, he was going to put an end to these large partisan divides and was going to bring the country back together as measured by not taking Republican or Democrat approaches to the big issues of our times but finding some common ground.

In this case, the Congress turned the stimulus bill into a meandering spending spree, I think mostly inspired by the congressional leaders, and he could have, I think, given his popularity and the recent election, reined them in or put his foot down.

We’ll see whether now that’s going to be the, you know, modus operandi, going forward, whether he’s going to, you know, take just traditional Democratic orthodoxy and apply that to energy and apply that to the environment and apply that to health care reform and apply that the budget coming out, or whether he’s truly going to burn some capital to try to rein in his own party.

Q: Speaking of Obama campaign pledges, how realistic do you think it is that the deficit will be cut?

A: Since we don’t know what his proposal is, for sure, it’s probably premature to say. But if history is a guide, I wouldn’t bet a lot of money on it. … My own view of that is, with very few exceptions, it hasn’t mattered which party has controlled the White House and which party has controlled Congress. We have the fox watching the chicken coop. And the general trend line, with some minor variations, is more and more and more and more debt and more and more and more spending. And I don’t think we’re going to be able to bring that under control hoping for the good wishes and intentions of the United States Congress. I think we’re going to need a balanced budget amendment or device to force it.

We’re going to have the government equivalent of the mortgage crisis in 15 years and people are going to say, how did this happen? How did this happen? Well, it happened because, basically, the rules of common sense and gravity are being defied. And you can’t defy them forever.

Q: You say the administration could have picked up stimulus support by making some modest concessions. Like what?

A: Well in general, I just think Republicans were frustrated because they saw the bill … morphing into a big, just, generic spending bill and they wanted to see it focused on two main things. One is tax cuts, the other is things that are non-pork-barrel, non-earmark, bread-and-butter infrastructure spending like roads and bridges. So I think … if that would have been the two main features of the bill, then they would have gotten some significant Republican support.

Q: Just a few years ago, Republicans were in control of the Minnesota legislature. You were elected governor. Now it seems like everything’s collapsed for Minnesota Republicans. You barely won reelection. It looks like Coleman loses his seat. What happened to the Republican Party in Minnesota?

A: Well, I think it’s a mirror of what happened nationally. But Minnesota also has deep Democratic or liberal roots. It’s the land of Humphrey, Mondale, McCarthy, Wellstone. And it is a state that for almost all of its recent history was a pretty deep-blue state. It got a little purplish or competitive around 2002. But as the country has lurched back toward the Democrats, so has Minnesota. With the exception of [Indiana Gov.] Mitch Daniels, there isn’t a Republican governor between me and the Atlantic Ocean.

Republicans have become endangered in the Northeast, in the Great Lakes states, on the West Coast, many of the Mid-Atlantic states. So the phenomenon that is underneath your question is not limited to the Great Lakes states. This is a broader issue of what happened to the Republican Party and the conservative movement across the country.

And the short answer to that is the Republican Party has to do a better job of convincing Sam’s Club voters, women, Hispanics, younger voters to be Republicans. And they – the answer to that isn’t to act more like Democrats. The answer to that is to be more effective at convincing Democrats to become Republicans or independents to become Republicans. And we have a lot of work to do in that regard.

You know, just on that front, I love Ronald Reagan and people under 40 don’t always remember him as well as they should, but some of the lessons of his leadership can be transposed to the challenges and opportunities of our time. He was a energetic, civil, decent, positive leader. You know, he wasn’t petty. He wasn’t angry. People wanted to follow him because he was hopeful and optimistic. Number two, he actually had ideas. There’s a good lesson for Republicans in that.

The Republican idea factory has, I think, gotten stale. Reagan embraced big ideas and had ideas … he was able to communicate them in ways that average people could have a “darn right” response to it. So the party shouldn’t obsess about always harkening back to him by name, because for younger voters, you know, that’s a distant memory, although he was a great leader and deserves all the praise and accolades we can give him. But the lessons of his leadership are applicable, but we have to also apply them to the emerging issues of our time and see those issues before it’s too late.

Q: Why does the party keep going back to the Reagan mystique?

A: Republican leaders, currently, came of age with Reagan and so that’s kind of their defining experience. And so it’s understandable that that’s their frame of reference. However, while we need to admire and respect and love Ronald Reagan, we need to move beyond using him as … the rhetorical reference point. Because that doesn’t connect with people under 40.

You didn’t see Barack Obama running around the country talking about, you know, Truman 90 percent of the time. Or, you know, how great FDR was. He had his own image and his own ideas. And now, they may have been rooted in the same principles as some of the great liberal icons, but the point is, rhetorically and as a matter of basic persuasion, people want to know what’s now and what’s in the future.

Q: Has a presidential bid in 2012 crossed your mind?

A: I’m focused on 2009 in Minnesota, with a huge budget crisis and an economic crisis. So my energy is there. And once I get through that I’m going to next consider whether I’m going to run for reelection as governor of Minnesota in 2010 and I’m going to make that decision sometime this spring. I am not focused on, nor am I going to decide anything relative to 2012, anytime soon.

Q: If you run for reelection does that commit you to serving a full term?

A: I think it’d be a reasonable expectation for voters. I mean, if you’re going to run for reelection to one office you don’t want to turn around and start running for another one the next day.

by the size of my belly not much LOL

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Setting your mind on a chicken coop-building project is not really as simple as taking a hammer and nailing pieces of wood together. You need a game plan to create a functional chicken coop, and one that will last as long as you need it to. Being able to proudly show it off is a bonus, but no matter what it looks like, as long as you made it and it works as it should, you should take pride on it.

To help you along in building your first masterpiece, there are a few elements that you should keep in mind.

1. The design

This will include the size of the coop, as well the functional aspects of the coop like feeding access, insulation, and waste management. You need to keep the chickens safe and accessible and be able to give them proper care but you should also be able to keep predators and harmful elements away. You should likewise consider the aesthetics or how it will look like after you have built it. While it won’t compare to the Sistine Chapel, it would be nice if it would not be an eyesore.

2. Materials

When looking for materials to use for making the chicken coop, you have to think more than just the “essential functions of the job,” which is to keep the chickens inside. You may want to consider toxicity, durability, impervious-ness, maintenance requirement, and the safety of the animals inside. Get a few recommendations from people who have built chicken coops regarding the materials to use that will be strong enough to withstand weather and other conditions, as well as keep the chickens safe and sound.

3. Cost and Time

It may not take a master craftsman to build a chicken coop, but it will take some skill as well as time and money. After doing your research, you should be able to tell if you can set aside enough time to do the work, and if you can afford to buy all the materials needed, including the tools that you will require if you don’t have them yet. If there are equipments that you can use in building a chicken coop AND use them for other functions, think about investing in those. They may also come handy for repairs and maintenance.

It’s easy to learn how to make a chicken coop, but you may run into a few snags if you don’t study up on how to build it. There are many online sites that will give you instructions, and it never hurts to ask from someone you know who has actually built their own. There are “kits” available online too that will have everything you need and instructions thrown in with the package so you should look into that as well.

On ChickenCoopsUsa.Com you can learn how to build your own chicken coop with easy to follow, step by step chicken coop plans.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Ming

The Free Chicken Coop – Build At Home!

If you want to get your hands on a completely free chicken coop, keep an eye out in your local paper. If you want to take a proactive approach to getting a cheap chicken coop, why not build one? This article provides you with all the info you need about building a chicken coop.

Size And Position

Depending on how many chickens you want to keep, size is very important. Without adequate running space, chickens may become stressed and stop laying eggs.

There are 3 main size options:

- Small, three-sided prism shape (1-4 chickens)

- Medium, box-shaped coop (5-9 chickens)

- Large, premium sized coop with addon chicken run (10+ chickens)

As for positioning, chickens are quite sensitive to things like light. As long as the coop gets good sunlight in the early hours, your chickens should lay at an optimal rate. If not, they may get stressed and confused, leading to a significantly reduced output.

Security Precautions

Believe it or not, poultry theft is still a big problem in some parts of the world. Depending on your location, you might want to padlock the gate to your coop. Also be sure to protect your birds from predators like foxes and snakes. Consider digging some wire mesh into the ground to prevent animals from burrowing under.

Detailed Chicken Coop Building Plans

For a practically free chicken coop, building your own is very cost effective. High quality plans will provide you with multiple designs for small, medium and large coops, and also detail which are the best materials for flooring, nests, etc..

By: Steve Kennett

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

To download some plans for a practically free chicken pen, check out this Chicken Coop Plans website now.

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How To Build A Chicken Coop – Facts You Should Know

All across the country, people are rediscovering how to build a chicken coop, and learning how to beat the recession by raising chickens – at home.

Urban Chicken Movement
It’s true – something called an “urban chicken movement” is taking place in cities including Indianapolis, St. Louis, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Wis. Folks are petitioning their city councils and zoning boards to allow them to keep chickens (and sometimes roosters) on their properties – in the city.

Why would you want to raise chickens in the city? Fresh eggs are better, and chickens at home are part of the “back to earth” movement that is becoming quite popular in recent years.

If you’ve become interested in raising chickens in your backyard, you’ll need to build a coop for them to live in. Building a chicken coop can be easy and cheap, but there are a few guidelines that you should follow. I’ve researched a few basic facts you should know to build your own chicken coops.

Common sense will go a long way – especially true when you’re designing your own chicken coop.

Make it easy to clean. Like any outdoor animals, chickens produce wastes that will need to be removed and surfaces cleaned and disinfected. Make sure you have easy and unobstructed access to the interior. Build floors that are easy to hose out. One trick experienced builders use is to slope the floor towards a door or access hatch. That way, when hosed out, all debris and water flows naturally out – no extra labor required!

Build with materials that can withstand harsh environments, water, extreme temperatures and repeated cleanings. Steel, concrete, aluminum and heavy-duty plastics will probably hold up much better that plain plywood, chip board and drywall. Inexpensive vinyl windows are great for chicken coops – they’re easily cleaned, and come in a variety of sizes. Corrugated steel roofs are cheap, almost indestructible and install very quickly.

Design
Always plan ahead when building your chicken coop. Make sure your design is easy to read and to calculate materials from. You should be building from a sketch or set of plans at the very minimum.

Space requirements are important – how many chickens will you be providing for, a
1000
nd how much room do you have to keep the birds in?How many chickens are you allowed to keep on your property? You may want to get this information before the construction begins.

If you’re building in the city, you must be considerate of your neighbors. While it may be tempting to build as cheaply as possible, the aesthetics of your coop may be a real standout – in the wrong way. The last thing you want to happen is to aggravate your neighbors with a “hick barnyard” scenario in your backyard. Plus, the nicer and neater your chicken coop is, the more apt you’ll be to take care of it – and your chickens.

Protect From The Weather
No matter which part of the country you live in – you’re probably going to get some weather extremes. From excessive heat in the desert Southwest, to frigid and snowy winters in the Northeast, your coop must protect your chickens from all of the likely weather that can happen in your part of the country.

Your building should have proper doors and windows – doors and windows that open and close, and seal as well. For good ventilation, you should have screens that will withstand the animals and weather conditions. If you live where the winters are cold, you may want to face the front of the coop towards the South – for the sun’s warmth during the winter will be a welcome relief to your chickens.

Insulation in the walls and ceiling can be crucial in hot and cold climates. Insulation will keep the interior temperature moderate and avoid the extremes that can damage and kill your birds.

Ventilation is also a real need and should be a part of your building plans. Ammonia and dampness from chicken waste can accumulate to harmful levels if not properly ventilated. And, the ventilation that you provide should be draft – free, that is, you don’t want excessive air movement that could chill the chickens during a cold night. But, you do need to effectively ventilate your coop.

PLan to build on well-drained soil. Puddles and permanent wet spots combined with wastes from the birds can contribute to a very un-healthy environment.

Even if you live in the city, you’ll need to make your chicken area predator-proof. Dogs, cats, raccoons and other carnivorous animals will see your chickens and their eggs as tasty treats – and will attack them if allowed. That’s why good doors and windows that seal are a definite must to protect your chickens.

Give them Light
As mentioned above, locate the coop with windows pointed towards the South, so that radiant energy from the sun can be absorbed and used to help heat the building. Even in cold climates, the chickens will generate their own heat, but the building must be well-sealed and free from drafts when windows and doors are closed and latched.

For maximum egg production, electric light bulbs are a must. As the days shorten during fall and winter, egg production tends to drop off as well. An electric light bulb or two can keep your chickens “inspired” to keep producing eggs at a summertime level.

Food And Water
Commercially manufactured feeding bowls and watering troughs can do a great job of keeping your chickens healthy – assuming that you place them properly in the coop. Chickens really are a mess when it comes to eating – many people throw feed on the floor (in a small area) of the yard in addition to the feeders. Why on the ground? Chickens have an instinct to “scratch” for food – and if you don’t allow for this instinct to happen, you may have big problems with proper feedings.

Most commercial food manufacturers will give you an ideal dimension at which to place their feed bowl, but a good rule of thumb is to mount the food bowl at a height roughly equal to that of a chicken’s back. That way, they can’t scratch and spill food everywhere.

Same goes for the height of the watering bowls – chickens, like most animals, need a good source of clean drinking water. If you just have one or two birds, then
1000
a plain water bowl might make the most sense. For more birds, you may want to consider some type of semi-automatic watering system, where you fill a bladder or tank, and the water levels in the bowls are automatically maintained throughout the day.

Really, building a chicken coop isn’t difficult at all. You just need to keep in mind these main points, and you’ll have a successful venture on your hands in no time.

Cost? While many factors can affect what you’ll pay in materials for your chicken coop, I’ve built then for $20 way up to $400 for real fancy buildings with lots of extras. Some of the best coops I’ve build started out as other peoples old ones – then I rebuilt and adapted to save money and make a better building.

By: Darrel Whiggins

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Join the “Urban Chicken Movement” and raise chickens in your backyard! I WANT TO LEARN HOW to build chicke coop – and raise chickens myself!

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There are many types of chicken coop kits out on the marketplace today, but how do you know which one to choose, especially if you’ve never bought, or built one? There are definitely a few things to look for that should set a quality kit above the rest.

Tip #1 Easy Cleaning, Easy Maintenance

One of the most important parts of owning a chicken coop, is the fact that you need to clean and maintain it properly. Faulty designs and poor craftmanship can really make your life, and your chicken’s lives difficult. Be sure to look for these things:

Check to see if the floor of the coop is slightly sloped. A good chicken coop’s floor will always be slightly sloped downward toward the main door. This makes it extremely easy to hose out the chicken coop, because the water will run out of the coop, instead of puddling in the center.

Tip #2 Proper Ventilation

A good chicken coop will provide the necessary air ventilation quality to your chickens. Invest in some sliding windows, and maybe even a door. This should provide the ventilation needed to properly care for the chickens being housed.

Tip #3 Thick Wire Mesh

If the door has a wire mesh protectant, be sure that it is up to snuff. Even small animals can chew through higher gauge wire mesh. Keep your chickens safe by investing in a proper door to keep pesky predators at bay.

Tip #4 Proper Lightning

Your chicken coop kit should provide adequate lighting, usually in the form of an electric light. Not only will this provide light, should you or the chickens need it – it is also a good heat source in the colder seasons.

Obviously there are many more things you should look for when designing or purchasing your own chicken coop kit.

For more essential tips on chicken coop kits, or to discover the exact blueprint I used to create dozens of chicken houses, visit my chicken coop blog at: Build a Chicken Coop.

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Farm information. can you tell me what these are used for?

horse arena
cylo
chicken coop

please write descriptions of each one thanks. : ]

The idea of raising chicken can be interesting for most people. If you have such interest you will probably be thinking of issues concerning building chicken coops as it will serve as the home of your birds. To do this, it is very much important that the appropriate things are well done. This is because your ultimate aim is to make sure you provide the best of protection for the survival and better development of your birds. You would definitely have to follow these few ideas that are aimed at providing the coaching for a better work.

The first thing to do in building chicken coops is to try as much as possible to have a plan for the project. To do this, it will be good to sketch your designs on a piece of paper. The design and plan you intend executing should be done in consonance with some other factors. For instance, you would consider the number of birds at hand, the topography or nature of the landscape on which you intend to build your coop.

Again, you would also consider the extent to which this is going to impact on people in the neighborhood. Bear in mind of the fact that this can produce a lot of odor and distraction to people. It will also be in your interest to clear any available weeds around your chicken coop.

The next thing to note in your attempt to building chicken coops has to do with the fact that a number of things are usually hazardous to chickens of which you must take care of. Rainfall, snow, summer heat and several other bad weather conditions can pose lots of problems here. You are reminded to build you coop in such a way that these will not be able to easily affect your chickens. In doing this, it would be vital to design it in a way that makes it feasible and easier for drainage.

The chicken coops should also be able to be regulated to meet the different weather conditions that may arise.

Again, you wouldn’t have to compromise food and water for the chicken. In other words you are required to consider feeding troughs that make it easily possible for feeding and water consumption when building chicken coops. You should also make sure these items are situated in a way that wouldn’t allow them to waste their food.

We reviewed the most helpful Chicken Coop Plans websites. For more information on Building Chicken Coops, visit our review site.

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Chicken Coop Designs – Tips For Great Chicken Coop Designs

So, you’ve decided to raise chickens in your backyard, but you need to find chicken coop designs so you can make a secure home for your chickens. Many different designs are offered – some expensive, some cheap, but what will work best for you?

Maybe you’ve been offered someone’s old chicken coop – maybe even for free. The price is right but, in the past when I’ve accepted old coops hoping to save time and money, I usually spend twice as much money and three times as much time fixing them up. And, after all is said and done, the “free” chicken coop winds up not as good as a new one, and was way more expensive than building new from scratch.

My advice? Build new, using good chicken coop designs that follow these four guidelines that I have listed for you.

Use The Best Materials
The quick fact is – in the long run, using the best materials for your chicken coop will be cheaper than using the cheapest materials!

Cheap materials are NOT the way to save money on a chicken coop. Cheap materials take just as long to assemble as good-quality materials, but don’t last very long. Remember, your coop stays outdoors – it’s subjected to all the nasty weather that your house is! But some folks think that cutting corners is the way to save money. Just the opposite is true – cheap materials may put your birds’ lives in jeopardy when bad weather is allowed to affect your flock.

There are literally hundreds of ways to save money on building your chicken coop. One of the best ways to save is to get great chicken coop designs. Quality designs can cleverly get the most out of top-quality materials.

Use the best materials along with a great design and I know you will not be disappointed.

Be sure to use quality wood and materials when building your coop. This includes getting thick enough wire mesh if you plan to build your windows or doors out of mesh. The last thing you want is a pesky predator chewing through your wire mesh to get to your chickens.

Design For Proper Ventilation
When I first started building coops, ventilation was an afterthought – I really didn’t believe it was that important. I was sadly mistaken as several of my birds took sick due to excessive moisture! You can surely believe I rectified that
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situation fast! But, the fixes were expensive and time-consuming! Now, I place a high priority on the right amount of ventilation for my birds.

Doors, windows and hatches should have the ability to ventilate. Make sure your chickens have adequate ventilation.

Make It Easy To Clean
Here’s another area where most folks get into trouble. By nature, chickens can be filthy animals – without proper sanitation. And, the way to sanitize is to clean. To clean, you must have total access to the inside of your chicken coop. Inexperienced builders don’t take the time to design in ease of cleaning. Here are some examples.

Slope the floor towards the entrance so waste will easily flow out.
Don’t design in corners where filth and waste can accumulate.
Provide adequate numbers of doors, windows and hatches to make the entire chicken coop accessible – from inside.

There are many other “tricks of the trade,” but these are the major ones that folks seem to miss.

Is the chicken coop design you are looking at make it a snap to clean? This is where most chicken coop blueprints fail. A good design will always allow easy maintenance, and easy cleaning. Look for things such as a downward sloped floor, for proper drainage and runoff. And Be sure the main door opens inward.

Light It Up
If you think that good lighting in your chicken coop will benefit you – you may be wrong. Good lighting benefits chickens first – and you second.

Just a couple of light bulbs (incandescent) can provide just enough heat to keep your chickens healthy on the coldest of winter nights.I live in cold-winter territory and have seen this first-hand. It works – nothing fancy but proven design principles used for great results.

Ok – here’s where lighting will benefit you. You’ve probably noticed that there is less daylight during the winter than during other seasons. Chickens notice this too – and lower their egg production because they believe their day is shorter, too. You can trick them somewhat by installing light bulbs in your chicken coops. The chickens think their days are longer and, voilà, they make more eggs!

Neat trick and easy to do – if you have good chicken coop designs.

Granted, there are literally hundreds of great tips on building chicken coops, but these suggestions are from the real world, and will have real benefits.

By: Darrel Whiggins

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Join the “Urban Chicken Movement” and raise chickens in your backyard! I WANT TO LEARN HOW to build a chicken coop – and raise chickens myself!

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I am looking for plans to build a shelter for my hens.

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Any chicken coop can be made portable by simply adding wheels to the base. Many of these portable chicken coops that are advertised both in print and on the internet are just that a chicken coop with wheels and some type of handle to push or pull the coop. The simplest of portable chicken coops have four wheels and a handle like a wheel borrow type design.

Usually portable chicken coops do not live up to their name. They are heavy and not easily moved from location to location because of the weight of the coop. There are some high tech designs though available on the market that are truly portable. These newer, nicer models usually are easy to move and have removable chicken runs attached that are also quite portable.

Portable coops can be an asset to owners with small yards, given there portability they can be set up in different areas of the yard to prevent environmental overload in any one place. Portable coops are typically smaller in scale than conventional chicken coops for ease of movement. They are not meant for large scale operations, but instead for the backyard farmer with a few hens.

Constructing a portable chicken coop does not require any more or any less effort than it does require to construct a stationary coop. Design plans can be purchased relatively inexpensively and could be gotten for free with a little research. Depending on the materials used in the construction costs can be relatively low for the entire project.

Want To Know More? Click Here – Portable Chicken Coops.

Free Advice and Information – http://chickencoopsforsale.com

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I want my chickens to walk around the garden, then at night time put them in a small coop, I will only have two chickens.

Is it cruel to lock them up in a small space for the night? I want one similiar to this but with out the side part

http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images…

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How To Build A Chicken Coop – Tips For A Successful Home Made Chicken Coop

Have you joined the “chicken underground” as you look for ways on how to build a chicken coop?

If you’re interested in raising chickens in your backyard – in the city, you’re not alone. The “urban chicken movement” is gaining ground in major cities across the U.S. with the goal of allowing city residents to keep a number of chickens in their backyards.

Proponents of this movement say that it’s a part of the “back to earth” movement that’s been gaining popularity as the country goes “green.”

Fresh eggs are a definite benefit of this movement.

If you want to keep chickens in your backyard, you’ll definitely need a coop – a place for your chickens to call home. Like any other do-it-yourself project, learning how to build a chicken coop – and building one are something the average homeowner can do with a little planning, and some common sense.

As someone who has raised chickens myself – and built a few coops in the process – I can offer a few tips on how to easily and safely build a chicken coop yourself.

Safety Counts – For Your Chickens
Like any other animals, chickens need good care and nurturing. Since they won’t be living inside your home, you will have to provide them with a coop that will provide protection from extreme weather and other animals that like to eat chickens – predators.

Chickens can survive winter’s cold and summer’s heat, but only if they have a well-built chicken coop to live in. Solidly built, with quality materials and thoughtful design, this structure, if designed well, will make it easy to care for your flock.

If you live in the Northeast where winters can be especially brutal, a Southern exposure on those cold winter mornings can really help warm up those cold birds. Likewise, if you live in the warm and dry Southwest, you’ll want to protect your chickens from excessive summer heat by avoiding Southern exposure.

Also, don’t forget about predators. Even in the most domestic of inner-city neighborhoods, stray dogs, cats, raccoons and a variety of wildlife flourish and would love to make a quick meal out of your chickens. To prevent this slaughter, your coop must be built off the ground and with pos
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itive-locking doors, hatches and windows. As a first line of defense, bury the first 6 to 12 inches othe chicken wire that surrounds your coops in the ground. That will prevent other animals from digging under the fence to get atyour birds.

Even in cold climates, ventilation is a must as the birds produce wastes that can build up dangerous amounts of ammonia and moisture that can sicken and kill your chickens if not properly removed.

Provide Heat And Light
I live in a cold-winter climate, and the warmth from several light bulbs at night provided enough heat to allow the chickens to survive even the coldest of nights. Of course, our coops were well-built and had insulation to help keep in what little heat was generated. But, it was enough heat – you don’t need to go to extremes when winter sets in.

Another benefit of the artificial light from light bulbs was additional egg productivity. As fall turns to winter, the amount of time the sun shines decreases dramatically, and chicken’s egg-laying tapers off. If they have a light available past sundown, their egg productivity doesn’t decrease as much.

You don’t need a fancy electrical system – just make sure it’s done in a safe manner that’s compatible with building codes in your area.

Make It Easy To Clean
Surprise – chickens produce a lot of waste along with fresh, great-tasting eggs. You can’t have one without the other. And a build-up of wastes that are allowed to gather can promote disease and sickness in your chickens. To avoid foul smells and disease, regular cleanings will be needed. So, why not design and build your chicken coop to be easy to clean – from the start?

Use materials that are easy to clean like plastics, treated lumber, galvanized steel, aluminum and concrete. You can also design-in features that can make cleaning much easier such as floors sloped towards a door or hatch (for easy hosing out), access panels or windows that allow access to the entire interior, and drip pans that are easy to remove when full of waste.

When planning on a location for your chicken coop, pick a well-drained spot that gives easy access to all sides.

Learning how to build a chicken coop is not difficult or costly. Most people who can read and hold a hammer can most likely get the job done – and do it well.

Take action and join the “chicken underground” today. Breakfast never tasted so good!

By: Darrel Whiggins

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Join the “Urban Chicken Movement” and raise chickens in your backyard! I WANT TO LEARN HOW to build a chicken coop – and raise chickens myself!

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I have been told that sawdust/paper/straw are all good. Is this true?

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Building A Chicken Coop In A Small Garden

Keeping chickens is gaining popularity all the time. It’s really not surprising as in return for the low cost of keeping chickens you benefit from having friendly pets, less insects and bugs in your garden, free fertiliser, fresh, tasty free range eggs and for some, a tasty healthy meal! However many people who live in towns and cities worry that they may not have enough room in their small backyards to raise chickens. So let’s look at some of the questions you need to ask yourself before you buy.

Local laws and legislation
The very first question you must determine is whether there are any local laws that prohibit you from keeping chickens or roosters, restrict the amount of chickens you can keep or restrict the location of your coop. Visit or telephone your local authority or animal control office to find out exactly what, if any, restrictions exist. By ignoring local legislation you could end up severly out of pocket facing fines and penalties.
The size of my backyard

The good news is that keeping chickens in a relatively small space is very much possible. The amount of chickens and the size of the chickens will determine the size of the chicken coop. Bear in mind chickens are sociable animals and so it’s always better to have 2 chickens rather than just one. A good rule of thumb to follow for a coop is, at the very minimum, allow 1 chicken 1 square foot of space. For larger chickens this would increase to 2 square foot. In regards to their run / exercise area, allow a minimum of a 4 square foot for average sized chickens and for larger chickens allow 10 square foot. That’s only 2ft by 5 foot which is really not a large amount of space but yet it is enough for your new chickens! You could of course also let your chickens run free all over your garden but bear in mind they love to scratch about and will eat grass, plants, vegetables and seeds! However on the plus side they will eat weeds, bugs, slugs and insects!

With small backyards there may be only 1 or 2 places that you can locate the coop. So bear in mind the following points:

- Ensure your new coop gives you easy access to the freshly laid eggs and that it is easy to get at so you can give it a thorough clean.
- To avoid your chickens being at risk from predators you should fence off an area around the coop and this could also inclu
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de their run. It should be strong enough and tall enough to prevent predators such as dogs, cats, foxes, racoons and hawks from getting in. Also sometimes you just need to put the chickens in, for example when you are mowing the lawn or planting seeds. Let them in and out of this area depending on whether you want them roaming throughout your back yard or whether you think they might be at risk from predators! Surround the area with wire mesh and if possible when putting it up dig down about a foot. This should hinder predators from digging under the fence. Alternatively you could surround them with an electric fence.
- If you have a dog or cat they might not be too welcoming of the fact you are keeping chickens and might need some adjusting to their new garden mates! You will know the temperament of your own pet so please be aware and observe for a while until you are confident your chickens are not at risk. Chicken get stressed easily and this can cause bad health and even death so try to ensure they are happy and as stress free as possible!

Chickens make fantastic pets especially if you have small children. They of course give something fantastic back to you; over 250 eggs per year! They are low maintenance and easy to look after and the beauty is you don’t need a large plot of land. A small backyard with some thoughtful planning will suffice!

By: Amanda Boyd

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

www.chickendiyguides.com provides straight forwrad and easy to follow plans for building a chicken coop along with tons of valuable information on keeping chickens!

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Building a simple chicken coop is fun and all you need to do is stick with the basic of things. You really don’t have to make it too complicated especially if you don’t have the time to fool with it.

What are the most important things when building a chicken house? You need to pay special attention to ventilation, feeding system, lighting and safety. If you don’t construct a coop that is well ventilated, it will really smell so bad inside and your chickens will smell nasty as well. Another thing you want to avoid is your chickens getting sick so easily or letting disease spread so fast that’s why you need proper ventilation.

The feeding system is also one crucial part of your simple chicken coop plan. This does not only include putting waterers and feeders somewhere where the chickens have easy access to anytime, you also have to learn about your chicken’s required nutrition to keep them healthy.

The third most important thing in building a chicken coop is lighting. Chickens definitely need sunlight to keep them happy. They will never survive without it and expect your egg production to be low if you place the chicken coop in a wrong spot. If you live in a place where you don’t see a lot of sunshine then you better invest in a good electrical lighting.

Protection from predators is one thing you should never take for granted. Cats, dogs, foxes, coyotes, certain rodents and hawks are known animals that prey on chickens. Build a coop that will keep them protected day and night.

To find out more about the simple steps in building a simple chicken coop, feel free to stop by http://cheapestwebdeals.com/chicken-coop.php

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