Improve Your Bird Watching Experience

By Reggie Ackerman

Everyone knows that our economy is slowly dropping. Expensive entertainments like skiing, fishing, and golf aren't any more the smart alternatives to relax and enjoy our spare time with family and buddies. To be prepared to enjoy completely your yard bird watching experience, you could have one critical gadget on your hand, the binoculars. Binoculars will help you watch birds from a distance. Remember that you have to give gap between you and the birds because birds are truly respondent to sound and human presence. The unique real way for you to see their nature is to have a look at them from a length.

If you would like to take yard bird watching sincerely, you might need a book to seek down the different sorts of birds on your yard. You can also jot down the different behaviors and features of the birds you saw. You will be fascinated if you attempt to go through the pages and observe the same birds return at the same time each year.

With a book, you'll have something to pray for as you wait for the birds to return on the same time. Additionally, you have got something to do on your spare time as you make prophecy when the same birds will appear again. To make your backyard bird watching more exciting, you need to draw in more birds on your yard.

The most typical way is to install fountains or birdbath where birds can find relief from the heat of the sun or slake their thirst. Feeding cages are also as good as the birdbath. You can put seeds to draw in big selection of birds all of the year round. If the quantity of birds came to the cages increases, you can offer nestling facilities for the birds in order that they can adopt it as their home.

Yard bird watching can be extremely adventuresome if you spend a bit more time on it. As you gain more experience, you will shortly simply recognized differing categories of birds without needing assistance from a manual. You may also learn the behavior and habits of different birds.

Before you start your yard bird watching, make sure that you brought a lot of water and high energy nibbles especially if you need to spend longer under cover. Water and nibbles will help you enjoy your pastime much longer under the heat of the sun. Both can help shield you from the heat of the sun and the cold of the winter. After a bit, you'll be planning for bird watching vacations with your pals and family. - 32194

About the Author:

Want to find out more about an Electric Crepe Maker, then visit Reggie Ackerman's site on how to

Tips for Chicken Coop Designs

By Kor Rassad

If you've taken an interest in chicken-raising, either as a hobby or a way to acquire eggs and chicken meat without having to buy them from the grocery store, how to house your new birds will be one of the first things you want to tackle. The standard for housing poultry is to build them a comfortable chicken coop to live in. Of course, how you construct it will vary depending on your specific scenario, how many chickens you plan on keeping, what kind of area you live in, and so forth.

Regardless, though, there are some aspects of chicken coop designs that are identical no matter the circumstances.

* Make sure your birds have enough living space. Inside the coop, you'll want to give them at least 4 square feet each in total area. This means if you have 5 chickens, you need to have at least 20 square feet for them to live comfortably in the coop.

* Make sure you leave room in the plan to attach a chicken run outside the coop itself. Chickens need 10 square feet each to walk around in, otherwise they will feel cramped.

Other than these space concerns, much of what you look for in your chicken coop designs is up to you. You can design the exterior of the coop to look like anything you want, from a victorian house or a greek temple to a functional and minimalist wooden box. One thing you should make sure to keep in mind, though, is that your coop will need to be big enough for you to get inside for cleaning purposes. If you can't get into it, your job of keeping your chickens healthy and happy will be that much more difficult.

A few other things you want to include, regardless of your chicken coop designs are adequate ventilation and predator protection. There are many animals which prey on poultry, from foxes and hawks to wolves, wild dogs, and even wild cats. With all this to worry about, your birds will feel much safer"and thus, will be much more productive and healthy"if you ensure that their home is solid and hard for wild animals to get into. Use solid wooden walls instead of a wire frame mesh. Of course, you shouldn't use wood to frame your chicken run; for that job, wire frame mesh is just fine.

Ventilation is important because chickens do not like extremes in temperature regardless of whether it's too hot or too cold. They prefer cool weather, but if it's too cold they will get just as unhappy as if it's too hot. Make sure you include some windows when planning out your chicken coop designs to account for this preference of your birds. A window towards the top is a good idea, because the hot, stale air will go out of it naturally, and you won't have to worry about installing some kind of mechanical system to circulate air.

Other ideas include adding nesting boxes for your hens to lay eggs in, roosts for them to sleep on, and easy-to-clean bedding boxes for the chicken droppings to fall into. Roosts are especially important, because chickens do not like sleeping on the ground. Regardless of how you make your chicken coop designs, just make sure your chickens have enough room and stay comfortable. They'll thank you for it. - 32194

About the Author:

If you enjoyed reading my article on chicken coop, visit http://www.chickencoopadvice.com for more great info.

What is a Chicken Ark?

By Kor Rassad

A chicken ark is a particular kind of housing for chickens that is a bit different from a regular chicken coop. In the United States, this kind of housing is often referred to as a chicken tractor instead, but the building is the same thing. It's just the name that's different. Essentially, it is a portable chicken coop without a floor. This makes some things, like cleaning, much easier, because most chicken droppings will simply fall directly to the dirt.

The most common design for a chicken ark is an A-frame, which is kind of the same structure as a saw-horse. For this kind of ark, you attach two end-pieces with a long horizontal beam at the top. The end-pieces consist of two beams put together with roughly a 45 degree angle (or greater). These vertical beams are then connected to each other with a cross-piece, forming roughly the same shape as a capital A, hence the name A-frame.

Once you have the frame constructed, you can attach walls, chicken or similar wire, and nest boxes and a roost within the frame itself. Since there is no floor, and not a whole lot of heavy wood attached to the chicken ark, this type of house for your birds is usually more easy to move around your garden. You can attach wheels to it to make the process even easier. This type of design is not perfect, though, because the lack of floor makes it a bad choice for cold environments. If you live somewhere that gets extremely cold, you may wish to consider using a different kind of portable chicken coop instead, or your birds will get sick from the temperature.

A different design looks more like a wheel-barrow or hand-cart, with a more traditional coop on the end in place of the cart. This design is still very portable, and still has a wire walls at the bottom with no real floor on the coop part of the ark, but provides a little bit more protection from the heat. They are also heavier, though.

Another problem with using a chicken ark instead of a traditional coop to house your poultry is that they are not very predator-proof. Since the construction of the bottom part consists largely of wire mesh, your birds will not feel very safe if there are animals prowling about which want to eat them. The lack of a floor means that if any predators manage to get in through that wire, your chickens will be in dire straits indeed. Make sure you don't have large numbers"or ideally any"natural predators of chickens if you construct an ark.

However, if predators and temperature are not big problems where you live, then a chicken ark may be the ideal solution if you plan on raising chickens. They are very easy to clean, and most designs come with detachable walls to make this even easier. They can also help to let your chickens range the yard without walking completely free, which while nice is not always an option. For instance, if you live in a suburban area but have a very large garden, this kind of housing is probably a much better bet than a larger coop and just letting your birds walk free, where they will probably get into your neighbours' gardens as well. - 32194

About the Author:

Kor Rassad is a chicken coop enthusiast. For more great tips and advice on Chicken Coop, visit http://www.chickencoopadvice.com.

Tips for Chicken Coop Construction

By Kor Rassad

Having a chicken coop in your backyard may be a profitable idea, but there are a few guidelines you must follow to be successful with this venture. If you don't, it is most likely that your chickens will not lay eggs and you will become frustrated. Here are the factors you must be aware of.

Positioning the Coop

This is the first thing you should take into account before you begin construction. You want to position the chicken coop in a spacious area, where the chicken are exposed to the maximum amount of sunlight and fresh breeze they can get. If they are unable to get this, they will not be happy with the coop and will therefore not lay as many eggs. Of course, there are many areas which do not have as much sunlight as others, so a better option in that situation will be to install electric bulbs in the coop. The basic idea is to ensure that the chickens do not remain in darkness for the larger part of the day.

Coop Dimensions

Another important aspect is the size of the coop. Chickens are extremely picky when it comes to comfort and if they are not happy with the coop size, they will surely make it obvious. Furthermore, if you don't take into consideration the size of the chicken coop in relation with how many chickens you want to have, you may end up with a too large or even too small space, and both of these will cause problems.

If you intend to have a portable coop, keeping it small will be a better idea. However, if you want a large coop, then it is advisable to search for plans online which have a run included in them so that your chickens can get some exercise as well as fresh air.

Climate and Flooring Choice

The third thing you must look into is choosing between the options of flooring for the coop. You can have dried grass, sand or sawdust. Your choice mainly depends on your local climate, for example, sawdust does not do well in rainy climates. Here, a better choice would be sand, as this will drain water efficiently.

Once you have all this factors sorted out, you are ready to go ahead with the construction. There is a multitude of plans available online for you to choose from. Once you have selected what you want, be sure to use quality materials. - 32194

About the Author:

For more great tips and advice on Chicken Coop, visit http://www.chickencoopadvice.com.

Chicken Coops

By Kor Rassad

I first heard about people raising chickens in their own gardens back in 2004, when a friend of mine started doing it because he liked organic food and knowing that the eggs he ate came from animals that were treated and raised in a humane manner. He decided the only way to know for sure about that was if he raised the chickens himself. He did a lot of research on the different aspects of chicken coop design, and then he built two pretty decent-sized coops in his back garden, since it's pretty large. A few weeks after that we went over and my wife heard about it, and then nothing would do but that we raised some chickens of our own.

I was okay with it, I guess. We have a pretty big garden ourselves, but I couldn't see needing that many eggs so I managed to talk the missus into only one coop. Fine, she said, and then she left me to get started on the chicken coop design, going off with a big book under her arm called how to care for chickens. Well, I wasn't about to do all that research myself what with my friend already having done it, so I gave him a call and asked him to come over.

He did, and ran over the basics with me in the little shed I use as my workshop. First, he said, chickens need enough space to be comfortable, or they won't lay as many eggs as they should. I asked him how much space was enough, and he gave me these guidelines:

* Inside the coop " at least 4 square feet per bird

* Outside the coop in a run - at least 10 square feet per bird

* On roosts " 3 horizontal feet per bird.

Other than that, he said, I also needed to make sure there was enough ventilation in the chicken coop design to keep the chickens healthy. They naturally like temperatures that are neither extremely hot or cold, so adding windows into the top of the coop would allow air to circulate and keep the temperature in a range the poultry would like. With that in mind, I put in one that I could control how much it opens, since sometimes it gets cold here and a wide open one would let in drafts that the chickens would find just as uncomfortable.

He also told me about how chickens like to roost off the ground. Apparently this is because in the wild they sleep on tree branches to avoid predators, so that adding roosts into a chicken coop design that lets them do something similar will make them feel safer. I ended up choosing, at his recommendation, 2 x 2 boards with the sides rounded a bit to make it easier for my birds to grip them.

The last thing to consider was protection from some of the chickens' natural predators. Since there are so many, of so many different kinds"such as birds of prey, wild cats, and wolves or foxes"you need to consider all angles of attack when making your chicken coop design predator-proof. Make sure the walls of the coop are solid enough, and that any chicken wire you use has a small enough mesh to prevent them getting into the run. - 32194

About the Author:

For more great tips and advice on chicken coop, visit http://www.chickencoopadvice.com.

Small Chicken Coop Advice

By Kor Rassad

The Small Chicken Coop

Today, an increasing number of people are growing interested in constructing chicken coops, and with different plans and designs for DIY coops becoming accessible in the marketplace, you can pick out special features and create a chicken coop that is custom-built for your own personal requirements. For newcomers, however, it is always a better idea to produce a small chicken coop first and then upgrade to a greater one with more chickens after they have got some experience. Here are a few reasons why constructing a small chicken coop is better than a large one.

Lower Constructing Material Prices

Everyone desires to get the most out of the smallest total of investment. The basic reason why you essential prefer a small coop over a large one is the lower cost of material required to fabricate the coop. Moreover, maintenance will too cost much less for a small coop and you will before long realize that smaller coops will save you quite a lot of money initially. Also, a smaller coop will be set up in lesser time and it will likewise need less effort, so you may want to consider maintaining a small coop instead of a large one.

Upkeep

Maintenance is also much easier for a small chicken coop. You will be able to clean the coop on a regular basis and quickly with ease, and this is definitely a better choice for you if you want to maintain the chicken coop as a side project and not a full-time one. If the coop is small, it will take less time to clean, and you will have more time to spend on different activities or work.

Portability

Lastly, smaller chicken coops give an advantage over large ones in terms of mobility. If you move a lot, it will be a much lesser hassle to have a small coop. Another advantage of a small coop is that you can move it around in your backyard so that the grass doesn't become dry. The chickens will also love searching for weeds and bugs and different insects in the land. Also, you can move the coop to position it in sunshine or even in the shade of a tree, leaving you constant options for emplacement.

An increasing total of people are picking out small coops over large ones so take your demands and find out the most suited choice for your needs. Think Of, the security and comfort of your chickens is of utmost importance, and whatever design you opt must fulfill their needs for comfort as much as yours. - 32194

About the Author:

If you enjoyed reading my article on chicken coop, visit http://www.chickencoopadvice.com for more great info.

Are Your Really So Busy You Risk Losing The Day?

By Damian Papworth

The day started like any other, up at 6am and straight to the computer. Having done an hour of work, I knew the cafe would be open, so I grabbed my daughter and headed for the door. It was time for my coffee. Today though, I stopped abruptly when I got to our front gate. There staring right at me, a mere arm span away, was a magnificent kookaburra.

I admired its courage, we were so close and it had not flown away. These are not tame birds, they typically shy clear from humans. The memory of this encounter will stick for a long time, it is so rare. I alerted my wife to the visit too, so she could come outside slowly and meet our friend and there the four of us stood, enjoying each other's company for nearly five minutes.

Having had my coffee now though and reflecting on the experience, I realize I blundered my way to the gate, to within two feet of this bird without even knowing it was there. I know the kookaburra was aware of me, was I really that caught up in my own little world though that I did not see this creature till we were almost butting heads? Did I really need to get close enough that we were eyeballing each other before I even noticed he was there?

One more step and surely I would have sent the kookaburra to flight. I would have missed this wonderful start to the day; it would simply have been sacrificed to inattention. What a terrible loss as these magical moments with nature are so rare. It was really a little bit of a wakeup call. Slow down and smell the roses. There is so much happening right now, yet we are all rushing to tomorrow, eyes so focused on the future we forget to enjoy the present.

From my home on Australia's Gold Coast, my young family of three are blessed with the song (or laughter) of kookaburras quite regularly. Never have I experienced one in such a personal way as I did today. I know from today too that the kookaburra's song will have a special meaning for me; there will be a message in every verse. "Slow down Damian" it will sing. "Enjoy what is in front of you right now". A message perhaps we all can benefit from. - 32194

About the Author:

Damian Papworth is a dedicated father. He recently went looking for baby high chairs. He realized the Fisher Price high chair range was particularly impressive.