Chicken House Plans

Many people think that building a chicken house is a very hard, time consuming and draining process. But, as with everything in life, things are just the way you want them to see. Truth is that you can build your chicken house quickly and easily without loosing too much of your time and energy. If you will approach this topic in the right manner, you will finish your first chicken house in as little as three days.

Always plan before working

As old saying goes:”Failing to plan is planning to fail.” It is especially true when you plan to build a chicken house. They require a lot of planning, mainly when it comes to space. Even before you decide, what kind of a chicken house you want, you should establish how many chickens will inhabit it. Based on that, you can start to plan how big your chicken coop should be.

You have to take into consideration, how much space will all the necessary equipment like feeders, waterers or perches, take. It isn’t something that you want to surprise you after you finish to build your chicken house.

The easiest solution is to draw the plan of your chicken coop before you begin to build it. However if you have no experience at planning a chicken house, I would recommend you to find ready made plans. This way you will ensure that your animals will feel comfortable in results of your work.

Turn the light on

Chicken require light in order to feel good. The easiest and probably only way to accomplish that goal is make sure, you have included enough windows in your chicken house.

Location is the other very important thing. You can’t place your windows too low or in a way that will make the sun shine directly at your chickens. It is important if you don’t want to make your chickens feel uncomfortable. In short you want windows that allow in a lot of light that isn’t directed at your chickens.

Go big

The most common mistake people make when they start to build their first chicken house, is choosing a plan that doesn’t offer enough space. Don’t stop yourself from building something a bit bigger than you need. This way you insure there will be enough space for other useful gadgets you may include with time or additional chickens.

Organize your work

Efficiently managing your time during your construction is something that will allow you to finish to build your chicken house fast and without any serious problems. Try to group your tasks into similar categories and estimate time needed to finish each one of them. Always leave some time for mishaps or unplanned delays. This is the only way you can be sure you will finish your project in designated time.

If you have taken the decision it is time to start building your own chicken house, there are few things you have to keep in mind before you start. It is much better to get through your plans to build a chicken house once again, just to insure everything is in place. This will prevent you from making mistakes that later would cost you many hours of additional work.

1. Size is very important

Size is probably the single most important factor, that you should examine one more time before you start building your chicken house. It is your obligation to make sure your chicken house will be spacious enough for your chickens.

You should provide your flock with at least 3 to 5 square feet per every chicken. If you wonder how big your chicken house should exactly be, you have to establish the breed of your bird and then choose the minimal space required for its size.

The last tip I have on this matter is building your chicken house bigger than what you need. This is a wise thing to do, because more space won’t hurt you and if your chickens will grow bigger, or you will want to get more of them your already build chicken house won’t require costly modifications.

2. Protection from weather conditions

The second thing you have to take care before you build a chicken house is protecting your chickens from harsh weather conditions. This includes, rains, strong winds, low temperatures etc.

The basic action to insure your flock is safe and happy is making your chicken house waterproof. It means you have to make the roof, floor, windows and all the other parts of the coop resistant to water.

As to protection from the winds, you have to make sure your construction is durable and heavy enough to withhold them. Making a chicken house that is too light will allow a stronger gust to destroy or at least throw your chicken house around.

As to protection from low temperatures, if you live in a cold climate you have to install some kind of insulation. This will make sure your chickens won’t suffer from cold.

3. Create easy access points

You should choose a chicken house plan that has a lot of handy access points, for your own sake. It will allow you to clean your chicken house much easier as well as collect the eggs without too much effort.

4. Give your chickens some fresh air

The forth thing you have to think about before you begin building your chicken house are windows. You have to provide enough sunlight into your coop, which by the way, is very important for proper health of your flock. Windows are also sources of fresh air, which as you may realize is crucial to remain healthy.

Design your chicken house in a way that prevents drafts inside of it. Too much air flow may make your chickens sick and that is something you would like to avoid.

5. Protect your chickens from predators

You should keep in mind that your chickens are a tasty prey for many animals that live in your environment. That is why you should always provide enough protection for your birds, or some day they will be gone.

Plan a fence before building a chicken house and use durable materials that will withhold attacks of larger aggressors. The other thing you should do is dig some of the fence of your chicken run into the ground to protect your flock from predators that would like to dig underneath it.

Above you have a list of some of the most common mistakes people make building a chicken house. Make sure your chicken house plan is up to job, before you start banging nails and cutting wood. This will help you to avoid a lot of problems later.