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Posts Tagged ‘chicken coop plans’

Chickens sure are amazing creatures. Chicken have been farm animals as long as we remember. If you love eggs, then passing up on the chance on getting your own chicken would be really hard. You see, many individuals save money from buying eggs simply because they have hens of their own that lay eggs. Does this sound Ok to you? If this is the case then you will have to take several things into consideration before you are ready to get your new animals. First of all, do you know how to build a chicken coop? If not, then I am here to inform you about the things you will need.

You have probably not been aware that building a chicken coop is pretty easy? Well, in fact it is not that difficult. You do no treally have to have big building experience when making your own chicken coop. The first thing you need to do is think about the size that you would like the chicken coop to be. Would you like to have a small chicken coop? When you get a small one, you will be able to transport it around. However, if you consider to have your chicken stay in one spot, then it is advised to build a larger coop.

You should note that if you plan to build a big chicken coop it is not harder to do, because it is bigger. The only difference is that it will be heavier, but in general the work that has to be done is the same.

The general rule is four square feet to each chicken. For instance, if you have four chickens, then you will need to build a house for them that is sixteen square feet. Does this make sense to you? Your chicken have to live in a stress free environment if you want them to lay the maximum amount of eggs.

When you are picking out a spot to place the chickens home, it would be best if you place it where the sunlight hits during the morning hours. Chickens enjoy the morning sunlight and this will make them lay eggs for you more often.

If your chicken feel good and are safe and healthy you can expect them to lay five eggs per week. You will have about 25 eggs per week if you have five hens. Well, this sounds really good, doesn’t it? Remember, it is all in how and where you place their home.

So what materials are needed for building a chicken coop. When it comes to the material list, you will find that you will not require much. In fact, it is absolutely easy. You will need nails, hammer, wood, and mesh wire. You can use treated pine or even hardwood, if you are not able to spend much money.

As you are putting the roof up, you may need someone to help you out. Remember, whatever you do, make sure you seal the chickens in, because there are many wild animals out there that would love to get a taste of some fresh chicken. Building a chicken coop can be fun and an enjoyable experience. Also, it is not expensive at all.

For a step by step guide on how to build a chicken coop visit Chicken Coop Plans

chicken coop plans

You don’t want to forget this critical part of your chicken house plans.

Building from chicken house plans without nesting boxes is like building your own house without a bedroom.  Well, sort of.

You need nesting boxes for several reasons, the first being its importance to the chickens themselves.  The nesting box is that safe, comfortable place for the chicken to relax that is usually away from the light and in the shade.
A good rule is one nesting box for every three and up to five hens. When a hen is ready to lay an egg, she will search for that quiet, private place – something that is soothing and safe.  The nesting box fills this purpose and gives the chickens that safe, comfortable place to lay eggs.

Nesting boxes are not only beneficial to the chickens, but they are helpful for those folks who are raising chickens as well.Basically, it centralizes the area for egg production and keeps your chicken house organized.Without a nesting box, a hen will search around and lay her egg wherever she sees fit.Then you would have a real egg hunt when it was time to get eggs from your chicken house.  Another benefit for the chicken raising folks, nesting boxes makes it easier to collect the eggs and to determine freshness.You can determine the freshness of certain eggs because of the order and time you collect your eggs from the nesting boxes.

Fine, Now How Do You Make A Nesting Box?

Size is important to remember when making nesting boxes.  They need to be small enough for the chicken to feel safe and comfortable.However, you cannot make them so small that you can’t clean them.  A good sized nesting box is about one-foot square, but you can check with your local feed store or veterinarian for the breed of chickens that you are raising. 
For more on the design of the nesting boxes, read the rest of the article here for complete chicken house plans

If you are new to keeping chickens, or you want to get more chickens, building your chicken coop yourself is an excellent way to make savings. Ready made chicken coops can cost several hundred pounds and building a chicken coop is easy if you have good plans.

Your children will enjoy getting involved. Depending on the ages of your children, they will be able to help building the chicken coop by doing something: fetching and organising the materials, telling you what to do next, assembling some of the pieces or even building the entire chicken coop.

Decide at the outset what design of chicken coop would be right for you. If you only have, or are planning to get, a few hens, say around three, then a chicken ark could be a good solution.

Chicken arks can be moved each day so the chickens get fresh ground to graze, or you can leave them in one place and let the chickens out. A chicken ark is a simple triangular shape with a nest box and roosting space at one end and a run at the other. Building a chicken ark is a simple project that would take a day.

If you’re going for a larger hen house, you’ll find it takes a bit longer, but it isn’t really any more complicated. This is perfect for five or six chickens. You could even build both, so you have the chicken ark to move the hens around and to use if any of them are poorly.

If you have, or plan to have, a larger flock then you will need a bigger hen house. A pitched roof design with external nest boxes would be perfect and you could site it within a run if you are not able to let your chickens free range.

To save costs even further, source some plans that include instructions and plans for building all three types of chicken coop. Then you’re all set to really save money.

chicken house plans

Chicken House Plans

There’s an old saying that goes about people . . . “don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” (I believe that was Harvey MacKay). Same holds true for your Chicken House Plans. You want to have plans so that your baby chicks wil grow in a healthy, safe environment. There are as many reasons families want to raise chickens as there are people. In our particular family, we were given a “gift” of about a dozen baby chicks one fine Easter morning. I first thought, “oh no, what am I going to do with all these chickens???” However, I remembered another great saying “if life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” (I promise, no more quotes). I was not thinking of eating the little chicks, but the thought of low-cost eggs sounded like a great idea to me. I was reveling in the thought about how fun it would be — a family project to build a chicken house, and soon we would be enjoying our own organically fresh eggs. It was a one-time investment that if done correctly, it could pay off for years just in fresh eggs alone. So when you are looking for the best Chicken House Plans, consider these following steps in your plan. The first thing you need to plan is where you will locate your new chicken house. From this point, you will know what your limitations are. One thing to be mindful about is that a basic 4 by 8 foot structure. This makes it easy on the materials sides because most plywood and other materials come in 4 x 8 foot sheets. Secondly, you want to establish the frame for the chicken house play area. This can be done by attaching by nails or screws the bottom of four pieces together. (You really should use screws that you can drive with an electric screwdriver. This makes it easy to disassemble in case you ever need to move your chicken house; you can simply unscrew the wood and away you go!) When this is finished, you can secure two corner sections, consisting of two parts that make up each corner. With the framework finished, the play area can be closed off with chicken wire. Once your chicken house frame is done, you can begin witht the actual house. You would probably want to consider if you are installing some sort of chicken house door, and if so, where the location would be. For our family, it was better to put the door near the back nesting area, which helps with your egg hunts down the road. How you attach the door is going to be determined by what kind of door you would like. One idea that we used was a door near the nesting area, which opened upward. Our door had a long wooden dowel added to prop in the “up” position so we could easily access inside the chicken house. Next you should install the roof. Plywood (which comes in 4 x 8 foot sheets) is perfect for this, but you can check with your local lumbar supplier to see if your location requires a different type of building material. Once the roof is up you can move forward with the nesting area of your chicken house. Here, the size is going to depend on the number of chickens you want to raise. A basic 4 foot by 8 foot chicken house is probably enough room to raise 10 chickens. For our nesting area, we made two support from 4 foot sections attached on both sides of our frame to support the nesting box. With the support in place, you can build a basic nesting box out of plywood to place on this support system. The nesting area usually goes near a back wall away frorm the front entrance (and near that door location for eeasy acces to the eggs. In the front of your chicken house you want to cut an opening, much like the size of a small pet door, so that the chickens can access the chicken house play area. When you’re finished with your chicken house, make sure you sand all the rough edeges and corners smooth and safely cut or bend all chicken wire out of the way from harm. You also want to double check that no sharp edges of the chicken wire protrude and are either removed or bent in such a way that they will not harm the chickens. Ventilation and lighting are critical to your chicken’s health and welfare. You may want to have open sides that can be closed with hinged doors made of plywood. That way you can open the doors in the daytime hours for light and ventilation, and they can be closed in the evening or when you need to protect the chickens from bad weather. When it comes to chicken house floors, you have some options. Most folks use sawdust, but some farms and others have access to hay or use straw. Others even use sand at the bottop of their chicken house. Check with your local feed store or veterinarian to see what is the best material for the weather conditions in your area. Having a solid chicken house will provide your chickens with a safe, healthy environment where they can grow and prosper. For us, the kids enjoyed watching the chickens grow, and they loved getting the eggs for our breakfast table. Enjoy your flock of chickens, and make sure you consider these steps in your Chicken House Plans

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Many people are looking to build a chicken coop without having to spend a fortune. It is said that the average person spend around $300 roughly. There are many free and easy plans, that will allow you to construct a coop to fit your needs.
There are many online companies offering free chicken coop plans. Some of these sites sell prefabricated coops for really cheap. Most people can still build them cheaper. One question you should aks yourself is what you like to see in your coop. Proper ventilation is very important. Depending on the size of your chicken population, you will need to make sure you have adequate feeding systems. You will need to base your building supplies around what type of climate you live in. You definitely don’t want rain, snow and wind to get inside the chicken coop. It you live in a really cool climate, some kind of heating is something you should think of.
If you have a small amount of chickens it is said that a movable chicken coop can be of advantage. Because you can move them close to your house, they are easy to clean. They also can be made out of cheap material from around your home. Maybe a neighbor could help you with a few supplies. Your chickens can be closer to you for easy feeding. The coops are durable to withstand movement as well.
Many people make their coops out of recycled or unused materials that are free or cheap. In turn this give your chickens a safe place to lay their eggs. Chickens do not require much, but by giving them a warm and safe home you will increase egg production. It also protects from the weather.
Wood from pretty much any source, boxes, wooden chests, metals and many other things can be used. Be creative when building your chicken coop, based around your needs. Some farmers use small places that are not being used at all and old sheds.
When it comes to chicken coops a lot does have to be considered as far as how many chickens, weather and space. How to make a chicken coop and what material you can use is very open. There are many possibilities. The benefits that a coop provides your chickens will far outweigh any cost or search for materials. You can get great ideas from people around you who also have chickens Building your own chicken coop is easier than you might think! All you need is the right blueprint. For a step by step guide on how to build a chicken coop visit Chicken Coop Plans

Anyone that raises chickens will need a chicken coop. The question for many is how to build a chicken coop? It will only take little time to build a chicken coop, all that is needed is a bit of ingenuity and some basic materials.

The first things you have to clarify is how large you want the coop to be and what material you would like to use. The other thing that is really a key factor is the placement of your coop. The conditions for your chicken coop could vary, because of the fact that everyone’s environment is diferent.

As the name indicates, a chicken coop will provide shelter to your chicken. This is very important because there are many wild animals that could pose a great danger to your chickens. One very important part of any chicken coop is the “run.” This is the area outside of the actual shelter itself where the chickens are free to roam around in.

The standard rule of thumb for how to build a chicken coop is to allow room for eight chickens and three nests. In addition there has to be suffiecient room for the chicken to be able to perch too. This would be about nine inches or so of perch space. One of the most common mistakes people make is building a chicken coop that is too small. Doing so will prohibit your chickens from flourishing as well as they could if the coop was the adequate size.

For every chicken there should be at least four square feet. This basically means if you plan a chicken coop for four chicken you will need an area of 4×4. The windows of the chicken coop should always face south and it is of the uttmost importantce that there is sufficient ventilation throughout the coop. As a matter of fact, for a chicken coop to be fully functional then it should have these common characteristics:
Storage space
A proper entranceway
Sufficient ventilation and lighting
An area that accomodates the coop to be properly cleaned

the climate in which you live will tell you a good degree which material to use to build your own chicken coop. If you reside in a warm climate then you can often get away with wire netting and mesh. However, if you live in a colder climate then you will have to consider actual slider windows.

It is very important that when you make the plans for building your chicken coop that you take into consideration that the chicken coop is at least four feet tall and is also burried at least a foot into the ground. This will stop wild animals from digging underground to get to your coop. It is also a good idea to make sure that the top is covered by mesh or something that will prohibit wild birds from getting in and possibly spreading any disease to your chickens. If you are under the impression that building a chicken coop is difficult, you are wrong! One thing you really need is a good blueprint. For a step by step guide on how to build a chicken coop visit Free Chicken Coop Plans

One way is just put something together from whatever you have to hand, but you may regret this approach!

Think about what type would work best for you when you are building a chicken coop.

First off – how many chickens do you want to house?

Next – do you want to be able to move your chicken coop?

Now – where are you going to site your chicken coop?

And – how much space do you have?

Then – how are you going to design your chicken coop for easy cleaning?

And another thing – how will you position roosting bars and nest boxes?

Finally – how much time do you want to turn over to this project?

One way to get the best result when you are building a chicken coop is to buy a comprehensive set of plans and assembly instructions. Check the plans have several options so you can get a good idea of what will work for you.

Portable chicken arks are simple and quick to make and are ideal if you are just starting to keep chickens. They will take about three, and can be easily moved around your garden to new patched of grazing. Keeping the ark close to the house means you can watch the chickens easily.

A simple mid-size hen house won’t take you much longer to build and normally has a run attached. This is ideal for a larger flock of say, six hens. Identify an area to site the hen house that has good light and some protection.

You could let your chickens out when you’re there to supervise, or build both a chicken ark and a fixed coop so they can have new ground to scratch at.

Building a chicken coop is a straightforward weekend project if you start with plans and instructions – and you will get a chicken coop that looks good, functions well and will last a long time, for a fraction of the cost of buying one.

Chickens are entertaining and easy to look after. They are rewarding to keep as they’ll entertain you with their clucking around, re-arranging the flooring material in their run and taking dustbaths. In the middle of winter there is less light, so you will get few eggs, otherwise you should get eggs every day. For about 24 eggs a week, 4 chickens will be fine.

Chickens prefer somewhere dry to sleep and nestboxes mean you will generally find the eggs, as they can lay in out of the way corners if you’re ot careful. Moveable chicken arks and simple hen houses are straightforward to build from plans. Chickens like worms and grubs, will eat tiny insects and bugs as well as grass and weeds, so they are pretty much self sufficient if they’re left to roam. Chickens that feed naturally produce eggs with lovely deep yellow yolks.

Laying hens needs layers pellets, plus a little grit for egg shell production and whatever treats you like to give them – such as a little corn. You can feed them on kitchen scraps too.

Chickens are very interesting animals, and particularly enjoy taking a bath in dry soil or sand, fluffing up their feathers and wriggling around to help get rid of mites and clean their feathers. They are also fond of sunbathing and love to lay sideways in the sun and get the rays to their outstretched wings.

If you have three birds, two may pick on the third as they establish a pecking order, so four is often a better number.

Housing chickens is quite straightforward, a large rabbit hutch will take one or two, but it should be raised off the ground – they can manage a small ladder, to keep it dry. You can make chicken arks (the triangular section chicken coops that you move around) very easily. This clear book with three sets of chicken coop plans also has comprehensive information on keeping cickens. Included are clear plans for a tall square hen house and large chicken coop with space for about 15 birds.

You should find chickens will lay up to the age of 4 or 5, but they can live until they are 15. Chickens will come to you and will gather round the coop in the evening waiting to be let in, they are more intelligent than you think.

Chickens may nibble at strawberries and tomatoes, and take a shine to some of your best blooms, so keeping them in a run for most of the day may be sensible. The chicken ark which you can move every day or two, allows you to move the hens around your plot, giving them access to new ground, but keeping the chickens where you want them.

They will need to be let out of the roosting area early in the morning as soon as it is light as the more daylight they get the more eggs they will lay as they need natural daylight to produce eggs.

Mary Marshall