Plans For Chicken Coops – What to Consider When Making a DIY Coop
If you are looking at plans for chicken coops with a view to making a DIY coop, there are a number of considerations you should bear in mind before starting. If you are a novice chicken-keeper, you need to look further than what the plans simply look like and ask yourself some questions before deciding which plans to use.
Firstly, size is the most important consideration. You should ensure that the coop is large enough to house the number of hens you are thinking of buying. As a general rule, each hen needs between 3-5 square feet of space in the sleeping/nesting area and around 15 square feet of run space. Now if you intend to allow your hens to free-range for some of the time, you can probably reduce this figure a little.
With regard to height, you should allow a minimum of 3 feet. Next, think about where your project is going to be sited as this can have implications when choosing your plans for chicken coops. If you can, it is useful to have the coop reasonably near to the house, otherwise feeding and egg collection can become a chore. This means that you want to choose a design which you are happy seeing from the house on a day to day basis. Consider which features you would like inside your coop. The benefit of making a DIY coop is that you are able to be pretty flexible about what is inside. For example, do you prefer fixed or portable feeders? What type of nesting box will you have? What about perches?
With regard to nesting boxes, you do not need anything fancy. My hens share a plastic cat litter tray, which I weight down with a brick to stop it tipping and then line with straw. This has the advantage of being simple to clean. Another recommendation is to use a shallow sturdy cardboard box which you can simply dispose of each week or so and use another.
For perches, if the plans for chicken coops which you are using does not make a provision for perches, a good idea is to take a couple of large branches and lay them strategically in the run. The hens will enjoy perching in the open air.
As a chicken keeper and retailer of chicken housing myself, I was looking for ideas to incorporate into my own designs and this lead me to a book by a fellow chicken-lover. His plans for chicken coops were so simple that they were almost as easy to construct as my own self-assembly coops were to put together! I have since recommended his book to numerous customers who were looking at making a DIY coop themselves and all have been delighted by both the simplicity and quality of the designs.
In addition, it has been shown that building your own housing can save over 50% of the cost of a comparable flatpacked pen and even those with very little experience in DIY can follow simple chicken pen plans without difficulty. To take a look at the different options which are available, please visit Plans For Plans For chicken coops
.
By: Carole M Hopkins
About the Author:
Firstly, size is the most important consideration. You should ensure that the coop is large enough to house the number of hens you are thinking of buying. As a general rule, each hen needs between 3-5 square feet of space in the sleeping/nesting area and around 15 square feet of run space. Now if you intend to allow your hens to free-range for some of the time, you can probably reduce this figure a little.
With regard to height, you should allow a minimum of 3 feet. Next, think about where your project is going to be sited as this can have implications when choosing your plans for chicken coops. If you can, it is useful to have the coop reasonably near to the house, otherwise feeding and egg collection can become a chore. This means that you want to choose a design which you are happy seeing from the house on a day to day basis. Consider which features you would like inside your coop. The benefit of making a DIY coop is that you are able to be pretty flexible about what is inside. For example, do you prefer fixed or portable feeders? What type of nesting box will you have? What about perches?
With regard to nesting boxes, you do not need anything fancy. My hens share a plastic cat litter tray, which I weight down with a brick to stop it tipping and then line with straw. This has the advantage of being simple to clean. Another recommendation is to use a shallow sturdy cardboard box which you can simply dispose of each week or so and use another.
For perches, if the plans for chicken coops which you are using does not make a provision for perches, a good idea is to take a couple of large branches and lay them strategically in the run. The hens will enjoy perching in the open air.
As a chicken keeper and retailer of chicken housing myself, I was looking for ideas to incorporate into my own designs and this lead me to a book by a fellow chicken-lover. His plans for chicken coops were so simple that they were almost as easy to construct as my own self-assembly coops were to put together! I have since recommended his book to numerous customers who were looking at making a DIY coop themselves and all have been delighted by both the simplicity and quality of the designs.
In addition, it has been shown that building your own housing can save over 50% of the cost of a comparable flatpacked pen and even those with very little experience in DIY can follow simple chicken pen plans without difficulty. To take a look at the different options which are available, please visit Plans For Plans For chicken coops
.
By: Carole M Hopkins
About the Author:
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- Building a Chicken House at Home
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