If you are building your own chicken coop then it is best to work from a set of tried and tested chicken coop plans rather than making it up as you go. If you have a set of plans and checklist of required materials you are going to save a lot of time and money.
There are many things to take into account before you even start building your chicken coop or even deciding on which chicken coop plans you intend to build from. You need to decide on how many chickens you intend to start out with and also how many you would ideally like to keep once you are up and running and confident with your chicken keeping. My suggestion is that you start off with two hens until you are sure you have everything under control. Once you are happy that you are keeping happy and healthy chickens, you could comfortably keep around six chickens without much fuss. This is the amount most backyard chicken coops house.
Another thing you should do is survey your back yard and decide where you are going to put your chicken coop. This is not a huge issue because my suggestion is that you build a chicken coop that can be easily moved but as long as you have room for it then it is fine. Its great to have a movable one because the chicken poop is great for your lawn so moving it about will spread the goodness all over your yard. It also allows the chickens to peck at new grass and bugs in the lawn.
Handy Tip: Convenient access to fresh water is important.
There are very specific requirements that your hen house must meet for your chickens to be healthy and happy egg layers. This includes requirements for perching, lighting, nest boxes. For example, As a rule, 6 egg layers require approximately 9 square feet (1 sq. meter) of nesting space.
One set of chicken coop plans that I think is ideal for everyone starting out in chicken raising is the 6 Chicken Double Decker Coop Plans. It has the full supplies list for the project with full step by step, easy to understand instructions and photographs that take you through each stage of the project. It covers framing, interior, exterior, netting and covers plenty of hints and tips and even comes with some fantastic chicken care bonuses.
Tags: Chicken Coop Plans
While many towns across the nation are changing their laws to permit residents to keep some chickens, some are resolutely refusing. Even if your town allows some chickens, your neighbors might not be so welcoming. In these examples, those who need to keep some hens will have to look at Chicken Coop Designs that can fool the people next door.
If you only have some hens, this is straightforward to do. There are several chicken coop designs out there that may be camouflaged as a recycling bin or other tiny structure. Even a tiny run can be designed with slats to appear like a compost bin.
Your neighbors will not have a clue! You can even select “stealth” chickens that mix in with the environment better than others. Rhode Island Reds, Red Stars or other brown chickens are better at camouflage than some of the other breeds. You’ll even consider some of the black chickens like Australorps or Jersey Giants. Another option is to plant around your chicken enclosure. You’ll be wanting to select plants that may keep your coop and run concealed year round, but that don’t provide lots of hiding places for predators. A hedge rose or other plant that you can keep trimmed may work best. Roses are also edible, so if your chickens nibble a bit, they will not be mistreated. Don’t plant round the side that faces your place so you can enjoy watching your chickens. You will need to look at Chicken Coop Designs that look more of an application shed or other structure that any one could have in their yard. Paint the exterior to match your house and make it interesting. Neighbors are typically engaged with the view out their window, so if it appears to be nice, they will not be as inclined to moan.
These “stealth” chicken sheds can essentially use a few different designs and still not alert the locals. Be certain to cover the chicken run so your hens can’t fly out and go visiting. This may also protect them from aerial predators like hawks and eagles. If the run isn’t awfully tall, ensure you can lift the covering simply to obtain access when required. Many Chicken Coop Designs include a run. This can offer you an idea of how to approach this. Hens do make a little bit of noise when they lay eggs, so if your neighbors are still not cheerful, offer to share some fresh eggs with them when your hens start to lay. They may never protest again once they’ve tasted them. If they find your chickens more enchanting, hiding your coop will not be such a problem.
They may even decide to get some themselves, and you are going to be able to recommend them on the best chicken coop designs to think about as well as on general chicken care. You may become the area chicken expert, and before you know it you may all be swapping chicken stories and egg recipes over the back fence.
Tags: Chicken Coop, Chicken Coop Designs, Chicken Coop Plans, chicken house plans
Not all chickens are made equal, and similarly, neither are all chicken coop. When planning out your chicken coop designs, there are plenty of things you wish to consider, for instance, how many chickens have you got, what are these chickens for, are they going to be pets, what sort of accommodations does the chickens have, how are you going to get to the eggs?
All these are highly good questions, which has got to be answered right before you commence building your chicken shack. The number of chickens that you can keep is only prohibited by the dimensions of your yard. You can keep five, or you can keep twenty-five ; however you have to build a coop that can accommodate the amount of chickens you plan on having.
If the chicken coop plans you build is not enough, then the chickens will become stressed and pissed off that will impact on their laying patterns. If you are raising chickens just for their eggs, then you definitely don’t have to interrupt their habits, because this can make you lose the revenues you make from them, as well as a decent food supply for yourself. There are three basic sorts of chicken shack you can build, and they are little , medium, and big . You’ll decide to build your coops in two alternative ways.
The primary way, is to build it with an A-shaped roof. A-Shaped roofs are and example of decent chicken coop designs because they will last for a bit longer, and they are going to permit rain and snow to run off the top. The disadvantage is they seem to be a bit costly and need rather more wood.
Another advantage of having an A-Shaped roof is the chickens won’t be hitting the ceiling quite as much. You’ll also build a roof that is flat, though it’ll collect more snow and rain, this creates a likelihood of roof collapse, though it is cheaper. To ward off the roof collapse, the public build the flat roof at an angle, but this involves building your coop at an angle too which is a bore in itself.
Small Coops : Little chicken shed Designs are idea for folk that only need to keep two or three chickens. These may consist of a small fenced in enclosure, with a tiny indoor area that sleeps two or three chickens. These are relatively inexpensive and are often for pet chickens.
Medium Coops : These are a bit bigger as far as chicken coop designs go, and they’re customarily for housing 5-10 chickens. They can be converted from an old shed, or made from nothing but they have matching basic makeup as the little chicken coop designs.
Big Coops : This is for an individual that goes all out on their chickens, falling just short of building a total warehouse in their honor.
Occasionally these coops will appear to be chicken condos or castles, and the chickens customarily enjoy living in these. They consist of the enormous coop, and the fenced in area, which customarily is just as massive. For some chicken coop plans, if you would like fast access to the eggs, you can build a strategy to retrieve the eggs without ever going into the coop. Such a thing would be a door on the outside that opens up into the nesting boxes. Just don’t forget to go in there frequently to check on the conditions of the coop.
Tags: Chicken Coop Plans
Hello Everyone,
Just a quick anouncement to let you know that the chicken coop plans Discussion forums are now live. You can access them by clicking the “Chicken Coop Forum” link up the top or simply follow this link and sign up (for free of course):
Chicken Coop Plans Forum
Now, please remember, I’m not a real tech head and I did install the forum software myself so f there are any problems I do apologise in advance! If you notice anything not working or strange then can you please let me know in the comments of this blog post (comments).
Also, I’ve put the following initial forum topics in:
- Chicken Coop Plans
Discussion on various chicken coop plans that you have designed yourself or found on the net. Share these here for everyone to use and learn from. - Chicken Breeds
Discussion on various Chicken Breeds - Introduce Yourself
Introduce yourself to the forums and its members. - Chicken Coop Eqiuipment
Discussion on Other chicken coop equipment such as feeders & lighting etc. - Chicken Coop Gallery
This is where you can show off your own chicken coop. Tell us how you went about building/buying, post photos, plans etc.
If there are any other discussion topics you would like me to add then please let me know.
To get started, head over to Introduce Yourself and click the “New Topic” button to create a new post (See diagram below). This is where you can tell us a bit about yourself and why you are in to keeping chickens.
There hardly any post on the forums at the moment but we have to start somewhere right? Hope to see you on the forums soon!
Clance.
Tags: Chicken Coop, Chicken Coop Designs, chicken coop forum, Chicken Coop Plans, chicken house plans, discussion forum
Just recently Bill Keene launched his new chicken coop plans eBook entitled Building a Chicken Coop. It’s great to see a new product out there especially one that is so complete and thorough, This particular product has 3 very detailed chicken coop plans which includes a small mobile coop, a medium sized one and a larger premium style coop which means no matter what your budget or yard size you can get up and running in no time.
One of the best things about this product is that on top of the 3 very detailed step by step plans, there is about 70 pages of information containing everything you need to know before you actually get started. There is plenty of information about various chicken breeds and what would be best for various environments and climates. It has information on how to successfully raise chicks, and how to care for adult chickens and very importantly it goes into some detail about the various predators your coop is likely to encounter. It comes with a bunch of bonuses too including
- How to best position your chicken coop
- How to easily build nesting boxes out of common material
- Best material for Chicken coop floor
- The Cheapest materials to build your coop out of.
I went and bought this product and have done a video review of it for you where I go through and show each of the chicken coop plans, I go over the table of contents of the 57 page eBook called “Building a Chicken Coop” and I touch on each of the bonus eBooks too. Please forgive me, the video has lots of umms and aarrs in it and is a bit rough overall but I recorded it all in one go and its the first time I’ve ever recorded a product review like this so hopefully I’ll get better as I do a few more. So go ahead and click the play button below.
Let me know what you think of the video and also let me if there is anything you think I could do to improve them for the future.
Bottom line, I can very happily recommend these chicken coop plans to all aspiring chicken keepers from beginner to expert. If you agree, check it out for yourself over at Building a Chicken Coop.
