First Coast Pet

I brought five hens home, imagining they’d happily wander around my backyard. Keeping chickens is very much about watching them as they graze and hunt. It didn’t work out quite like that. They started free ranging over to the neighbor’s yard, even getting on their bird table where they enjoyed the plump sunflower seeds.

The answer had to be a chicken coop I could move around. Then they could get to pastures new, but would stay in my backyard. When I was out in the backyard they could roam free, to give them some extra space to explore. Picture the scene: a lovely chicken ark, with hens secure at night and pecking contentedly in the run by day.

The ready-built arks had big price tickets. The shipping on them added even more. So I researched plans for chicken arks. They needed to be simple (I’m no carpenter) and with clear instructions. I found some clear plans with good instructions for a simple chicken ark, plus plans for a larger hen house and the ultimate chicken coop I could build when I get more chickens.

With cutting plans for materials and step by step diagrams, the plans take me right through the construction process and there’s even lots of useful chicken keeping information that I didn’t know. The book of plans, instructions and chicken keeping information has given us all we need.

Now I have a handsome chicken ark with handles at each end so I can move it around. The chickens are very contented. There’s a run to allow them to peck and scratch, as well as a roosting area and a nesting box. I can put the chicken ark anywhere in my yard that I want cleared, and the neighbor’s bird table is back attracting wild birds, not backyard hens.

Now I’m planning to add to the flock. Should it be the simple hen house next, or shall I go the whole way and build the ultimate chicken coop, with a ridged roof and nestboxes down each side and a large run? It does look splendid, and I feel confident that with the chicken ark plans, I could make it quite easily.

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