6 Essential Accessories For Your Backyard Chicken Coop

Photo of Kassandra Smith

Kassandra Smith

Senior Editor • Backyard Chicken Coops

Last Updated: 18 November 2016

essential chicken coop accessories

Make sure your girls are happy and healthy with our guide to the 6 essential items all chook keepers need!

Hemp Bedding

This is not a sales pitch - Hemp Bedding is truly the best darn thing we have found for chooks. The enemy of chook-kind is humidity. Whether cold or hot, moisture is a big no-no for your coop! Hemp Bedding is super absorbent, which means less frequent changes for you and a dry, clean and healthy home for your chooks. Pesky pests aren’t interested in making their home out of hemp, so your girls will be less bothered by bugs. And this organic bedding material produces less dust compared to other beddings like straw and wood shavings, which helps keep your ladies’ little lungs free from respiratory irritations.  

Poultry Fencing

There’s nothing more pleasant than spending a weekend afternoon, cuppa in hand, watching your fabulously feathered girls potter about the backyard. But maybe you are yet to experience this divine pleasure? Perhaps your yard is not secure? Or your chickens haven’t quite grasped the concept of property boundaries? Or perhaps you want to protect your veggie patch from some curious and pecky ladies? Not to worry, you CAN know the joy of observing a free range flock thanks to the wonders of poultry fencing! Just set up your fencing to suit your yard and let your girls go wild! Check-out our other free-range poultry protection products here.

Shade Mesh

Chooks are absolute chickens when it comes to the harsh Australian summer. So give your girls the upper wing and keep ‘em cool with some coop shades. A good fitted set of shades on your run can reduce the temperature for your girls by 11°C. In winter, the shades provide a much needed chilly wind block. Expecting a snowfall? Just drop the shade mesh into place to prevent the run from filling up with snow it gets in the way, and there’s some very important scratching to be done.  

Hen Health Kit

When it comes to poultry, prevention is better than the cure! There are a few common issues that all chooks will have to deal with sooner or later. Having the right tools on hand to treat and prevent any chicken maladies that come your flock’s way will make your life easier. A Hen Health Kit is essential to keep your girls happy and flappin’ strong. We chat to chook lovers everyday and have put together a kit to meet your girls’ needs:

  • Apple Cider Vinegar boosts the immune system, helps prevent mites, lice and worms and regulates your chook’s PH levels.
  • Diatomaceous Earth is an all natural mineral that helps prevent mites, lice and worms, absorbs ‘fowl’ odours, repels other pests and is a rich source of immunity boosting minerals for your flock.
  • Inca Pestene Insect Powder contains the natural pest repellent sulphur and the insecticide rotenone to put an end to mites and lice when they come to stay.
  • Wormout Gel is a safe, proven and trusted solution for worm infestations.
  • Iodine Solution is handy for healing scratches, scabs and open wounds and helps prevent any unwanted pecking and picking.

With these egg-ceptional products at hand you’ll be ready to fight the good fight when it comes to defending your ladies from illness or injury.

Chicken Swing

What’s feathered life without a little fun? Add a little silly to your coop with a Chicken Swing! When chickens have little to keep them amused, they will often turn to pecking at themselves and one another- an unhealthy habit that can cause feather loss, injury and animosity among your flock. Nip that in the bud with some easy to install boredom busters! A chicken swing encourages natural roosting behaviours while providing mental and physical stimulation. Use it in conjunction with other avian activities and your cooped cluckers will be having a poultry party every day of the week!

Treadle Feeder

Let’s not beat around the bush - chicken feed = cold hard dollary-doos. While chooks are by far one of the cheapest pets you can keep, no one wants to waste money replacing feed that has been spoiled by rain, mixed in with cheeky droppings or stolen by morally bereft wild birds, vermin or pests. A treadle feeder in conjunction with a secure chicken run and vermin and pest prevention measures like 10mm x 10mm mesh and hemp bedding will save you money in the long run and ensure your girls are happy and healthy. It’s a wing wing situation!

For more ideas on how to keep a flock of cheeky chooks happy and healthy have a peck here.

Sources and further reading