1. Light

It is extremely important that you provide your hens with enough light. Hens require sunlight in order to be able to determine if it is day or night. They live their entire lives, based on sunrises and sundowns. If you won’t provide them with good light source, they will lay eggs during weird hours and may even act in uncommon ways.

Windows in a good hen house plan should be designed in a way, so they provide the hen house with a lot of light that isn’t shining directly at the hens. It should be slightly above their heads. this is the best method to insure they are feeling well.

The other important function of hen house windows is providing ventilation. That is why you should avoid drafts, but design them in a way that makes the stink dissipate and provides a lot of fresh air.

2. Size

Size is another important factor. Do you know how many chickens will you keep? If so, you should make your hen house plans according to this number. You want at least 3 to 5 square feet per chicken inside your coop.

Cramping your birds inside a small closed box will often cause health problems among them. Aside from them they may also become aggressive towards you and each other. That is exactly why you have to make sure they have enough living place.

3. Ease of access

Another thing you have to include in your design is a lot of doors and other cleverly planned access points that will help you to easily clean the hen house and collect eggs. This point is often missed by many people, so don’t make this mistake.

If you make your hen house inaccessible, you will find that you clean it less often and the hard design, may prevent you from taking care of some very important parts of the coop.

4. Is it right for your climate

The other thing you have to remember about is the fact that your hen house should be climate specific. If you often experience cold weather, it is a wise choice to provide your chicken house with some kind of insulation or using thicker materials.

Many people will see that it isn’t as easy as they think to produce a well designed, safe and comfortable hen house for their chickens. That is why I recommend you to spend some more time planning your every step, before you start to build your chicken coop, just to avoid numerous modifications that can result from faulty design.