Designs for Building a Chicken Coop | r54riviera64's Blog

Chicken coop plans are usually available in your local building center as well as online. Some plans are a free download with a list of all the materials needed for building. Some of the best chicken coops are built by hand, with your needs in mind.

When you are planning your chicken housing and runs, make sure to plan for your climate as well as the number of hens that you want to provide for. Each full sized chicken needs at least 4 sq ft of space. This means that for every 3 chickens you plan to have, you will need twelve square feet of space.

Of course, the more space you give them, the happier the chickens will usually be. Larger spaces means less squabbling, more exercise, and less illness.

There are also chicken coop kits available that have all of the construction materials included. These are usually sized for about three hens and can be cost prohibitive.

If you are only going to keep a couple of chickens, you can buy a coop and run ready made online or by mail order. Most of these kits will sit directly on the ground and will not be proof against predators. They are convenient, however, because they can be easily moved. As a secondary day pen, they can be perfect as a way to easily allow movement to fresh areas of the yard.

Be wary of building materials that can be a hazard to both birds and eggs when building your own. Pressure treated lumber often has arsenic in it, which will be ingested when the hens peck at the wood. Do not use paint with lead or aluminum in its base. Anything your chicken eats can end up in her eggs and thus on your plate.

Chicken wire should not be used as your only fencing to keep out predators. Dogs, coyotes, raccoons, fox, skunks, and many other predators can tear right through chicken wire with ease.

When designing your chicken coop plans, only use chicken wire for the bottom of the cage so that predators cannot dig under it. It's a good deterrent to digging under the cage because the predator doesn't have the leverage there to break through. He will get discouraged and give up.

Heavier gauge wire should be used on the sides and top of your pen to protect your chickens. Even if your coop provides for lock down at night, many predators will still try to get through to eat leftover grain, drink from their water, and will try to get into the coop itself.

If there are raccoons in your area, you may have to use a padlock to keep them out of the coop. A slide bolt or hasp is easily beaten by a chicken-killing, veteran raccoon. So be sure to plan for the types of predators in your area.

A diy chicken coop can be the beginning of a fun, enoyable hobby for you and your family.