Chicken Coop Houses

When deciding to raise chickens yourself you need to understand the different views surrounding chicken coop houses. There is much debate as to whether it is better to have a chicken coop and confine your chickens to a controlled environment or whether to let your chicken run free with just a wire mesh to keep your chickens within.

Both sides have their arguments and both have legitimate reasons for preferring one over the other. Whilst the outdoors is the natural environment for wild birds, there is the feeling that they are prone to the weather conditions in certain parts of the world. On the other hand, with the confinement of your birds in a coop, there is a controlled climate that people feel is unhealthy.

The best way to look at this situation is to combine the two different ideas and have a chicken coop that provides the benefit of warmth and controlled conditions, and the benefits of the outdoors in the form of a chicken run that provides freedom. The larger the areas for the chickens to roam, the better, so make the run as large as you feel you possibly can.

Having said this, it can be difficult if you are building a chicken coop in the back garden of your property. In the case of a backyard chicken coop you should really be judging how many chickens you can readily care for in regards to the size of the plot you can allot. If you don’t allow enough room for your chickens, they will not grow as large or produce as larger eggs.

Many people who have these kinds of chicken houses just want to supply eggs and meat for their sole consumption. The needs for these types of houses have increased over the past few years and are now readily sold on the market. Also people are beginning to live a more sustainable life and also building their own chicken houses.

You must be aware though that there are some issues surrounding the keeping of chickens in certain parts of the world. It’s important that you first seek out the correct information for your area. For example some areas do not allow hens within twenty feet of any dwelling. This would mean that your garden or backyards needs to be at least big enough to house a chicken coop and a run and still be far enough away from your own or anyone else’s property.

One thing that might surprise you is that it’s a misconception that anyone who keeps chickens is doing so purely because they want to eat them at some point. Many people are now keeping hens as regular pets and some are breeding chickens for shows.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to keep or breed chickens, you must realise that they need looking after, and can not just be left to fend for themselves. If you are only intent on keeping a few hens then there will not be that much work once you get into a routine.

One last point about keeping chickens is that they have very distinct personalities, and I think you will grow a very close bond, whether you are raising them for meat, eggs or just as a pet.

Chicken Coop Plans

When first starting out and taking care of chickens, there are a number of choices on what kind of chicken coop that you want. Depending on what your needs are, you have the option of buying a coop, or just simply building it yourself, using different chicken coop plans you can find online. You might want to consider buying one that either still needs to be assembled yourself or a prefabricated chicken coop that is readily assembled. These are more aesthetically pleasing and do not necessitate a big hassle when setting them up. Buying an entirely new coop isn't exactly a very good idea if you only plan on taking care of a few chickens. You can look for building plans for a chicken coop online and then just download one of them and proceed to build it yourself.

The first thing that you should address whether you are building the coop or just simply buying it is to determine the space requirements which are associated with the coop itself. This mostly consists of the space that you will be placing the coop on, as well as the space inside the coop itself that allows you to determine how many chickens can be kept in the chicken coop diy. Once you have determined the space that you will be using, you will need to determine everything that will be going in it. A variety of options are available when it comes to flooring such as placing wooden boxes inside the coop and then lining them with newspaper. Lining the coop is a very basic task. You can either use wood for the flooring, but this can get very dirty over time and would need frequent cleaning, or you can also use concrete, particularly for the deep litter method.

Install the necessary nest boxes that you will want to go into the chicken house and the chicken wire across the ventilation holes as well. Cut holes for the ventilation system if you have to as the chickens will definitely need these air holes to breathe out of. Try to run a nest box as a cooperative nesting area if you have multiple birds in one cage. Hobbyists can easily assemble their own chicken coop plans and need only to look for the more aesthetic solutions. Building coops using plans is great for those who are serious about raising chickens.