Forget Ready Made - Build Your Own Chicken Coop

Posted on | June 15, 2009 |

Saving money is important, whether you’re just getting started or getting more chickens, so building a chicken coop yourself is a great solution. Good ready built coops are expensive - and you will still have to assemble the pieces themselves, so find some well-produced plans and get going.

Its a great family project too. Depending on the ages of your children, they will be able to help building the chicken coop by doing something: fetching and organising the materials, telling you what to do next, assembling some of the pieces or even building the entire chicken coop.

So, what kind of chicken coop will work best for you? For a small flock of three hens, try a chicken ark.

If you want your chickens to free range, you can let them out, but a chicken ark is designed to be moved around so the chickens get to range as you move it. The simple design includes a roosting area one end and run the other.

A fixed hen house and run should be complete in less than a weekend, but should be simple to build from well-designed plans. For about five hens this will work well.

A larger flock of ten or so will need a bigger hen house. You’ll find the pitched roof designs with nest boxes accessed externally work well, and you can always build a run to go round the outside.

If you buy plans that include all three types of chicken coop, then you will really save.

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