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Three Essentials for Building a Chicken Coop

Written by ChickenFarmer on May 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment

If you want to build your own chicken coop, here are three essentials you should include. Your chicken coop should be rain proof. It should also be built to last. Finally, the coop should provide protection from predators. Let’s take a look at why these three elements are so important to your chicken coop building plans.

First of all, build a chicken coop that is rain proof. Keeping your chickens dry is important to your chickens’ health and happiness. (Healthier, happier chickens are more prolific egg layers!) If your coop doesn’t do its job by keeping out the rain, the dampness could lead to an increase in disease. Why risk your investment in chickens and feed by cutting corners on the coop. Besides, making a chicken coop dry doesn’t have to be expensive.

Next, build your chicken coop to last. It only makes sense that if you are putting in the effort to build it yourself, why not make it sturdy and long-lasting? Also, plan ahead for the number of chickens you plan to have in the future. This may seem crazy if you only have one or two chickens now, but you’ll be glad you did it later on. Even if you don’t make it big enough for your future chickens, choose a design that can be easily expanded.

Finally, build a chicken coop that protects your hens from predators. You may not see the danger today, but you will be surprised at the predators that come around when your chickens move into the neighborhood. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the countryside or in the suburbs. There are both two and four-legged predators that want to steal what you have, so plan for a coop that provides some basic security.

Your chickens can be both a fun hobby and a valuable asset. So when you put together your chicken coop, build a quality structure that will keep them dry and protected. If you take care of them, they will take care of you.

Building a chicken coop like this doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. For more information, including step-by-step instructions and detailed diagrams, visit Building a Chicken Coop.

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Review Of How To Build A Chicken Coop

Written by ChickenFarmer on May 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Building a Chicken CoopOnce in a while, a product comes along that is straightforward, sensible, to the point and surprisingly useful. You may be wondering, “Why would I want to build a chicken coop by myself?” Well, the price for one thing. Have you ever seen the price tag on these things? And, if you have access to a good tutorial, building your own isn’t difficult at all. This is where “How to Build a Chicken Coop” comes in.

What’s the best part of this book? It has cross sectional diagrams of the building process from beginning to end. There’s no trying to figure out what they mean by “Tab A” or “Slot B.” The illustrations completely remove any guesswork. Even if you have never nailed a nail or screwed a screw, you CAN put one of these things together on your own. In fact, these diagrams alone would probably be enough to get the job done. But there’s a whole lot more here.

Sectional Diagram“How to Build a Chicken Coop” provides all the information you need to finish the project for pennies on the dollar compared to a ready-made coop. And, there is no compromise on quality. You can use top-notch materials and still end up with money in your pocket. The chicken coop you build yourself will be much better and last longer than one you buy fully-built.

But the book doesn’t stop with building a chicken coop. It also gives you great tips on keeping your chickens happy and healthy. For example, did you know there are nine daily, monthly and yearly chores you must do to for year-round egg laying?

There’s more: when you buy “How to Build a Chicken Coop,” you get free bonus books. There is one on how to build free nesting boxes. Another book covers how to position your chicken coop and where to find the best building materials.

This is a really useful book on chicken coop building and I could keep going about its benefits. But why don’t you let the author tell you more? His name is Bill Keene and here’s the link to his site:

Building a Chicken Coop

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Chicken Coop Heat Lamp

Written by ChickenFarmer on May 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

duck and turtle sharing an outdoor pond?

i have a red-eared slider turtle who is about eight years old. he’s extremely healthy and in a big filtered tank with enough room to swim comfortably, along with a basking area and heat lamp.

my housemate has a chicken with an area for her (coop, run, etc.), and suggested putting a pond in. she also wants a duck. we thought it would be cool to use the pond for the turtle during the day at times, to let him in a bigger area to swim while being able to walk around on land. he’s quite big and i’m sure the chicken or the duck wouldn’t be able to hurt him, but my only concern was duck poop in the water effecting his health! i don’t want him to get an infection or anything, you know?

any suggestions and/or personal experiences?

red-eared slider turtles are swamp animals the only problem you will have with the dirty water is that you might not be able to see him but he will be very happy you can get a pond filter that will take care of the clarity of the water (i recommend one with a UV filter that kills all the algae) oh if any thing the turtle poses more of a threat to the duck and about the duck hurting turtle the turtle can hide in his shell and bite the duck,
P.S.diseases can be easily transferred from birds to reptiles and vice versa but if both are healthy there should be no problem

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Chicken Coop Perch

Written by ChickenFarmer on May 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment

i am building a chicken coop. How far off the ground is the perch supposed to be ? Other helpfull ideas???

your perch should be made like a ladder, slooping back to the wall and with enough space between each perch to keep the chickens roosting above from pooing on the chickens on the bottom rack… you can put the bottom perch any distance from the floor, two feet or so. Make sure there is plenty of room for the birds to roost without being too crowded. You can hang your waterer and feeder from your rafters and that will keep them from pooing in the water and feed, plus they can not dig out all the feed to get to the stuff they like best. Most chickens like things like watermelon rind and veggies too, so we always gave those to our birds as a treat, they will pretty much peck a rind till you could read the paper thru it! If you have a lot of chickens, you may want to buy lice dust just in case wild birds give them lice ,,,,thats a mess to get rid of and the lice will get on humans also. Oyster shell for grit and calcium and a good chicken feed is about all you need for feed. They love green grass also, so if you have them in a lot where there is none, you can take grass clippings, ONLY FRESH ones , and give them those too as a treat. Chickens need a safe place from preditors so make sure nothing can get into your chicken coop.. even a 2 inch hole will let rats in and we lost some chickens to racoons who found a 4 inch hole in the floor, still have no idea how on earth the coon got thru the hole , but he did! Good luck with your chickens, fresh eggs are great!

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Chicken Coop Garden Shed

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I am planning to make my 6×4 ft shed into a chicken coop.?

I have a 6×4 ft shed in my garden which i will add nest boxes and perches too for a chicken coop. and i am making one large run which will have a gate in the middle so the chickens can use half at a time to allow grass to grow and so their ground isnt ruined. the run will be 4×7 ft one side of the shed and 8x7ft the other end of the shed.. the two will link up but be used half at a time. is this okay for three to four chickens? and is it okay that their night time house/coop is on the ground because i have heard they have to be above ground because of vermin??
also how tall should the chicken wire of the run be?

Sounds great, I have a 8×6 shed for our lot. I wish we’d done the “rotating” the pen bit, our pen is one big muddy mess after 3 years of hens and ducks (ducks sold now). I’ve got 9 hens, a cockerel and last year we had 6 ducks and 2 turkeys. They all shared the same shed with no problems

They would need just one long perch, they will roost in a certain order most nights next to each other, if you put 2 perches they will probably only use one. I would think 2 nest boxes would be fine, I have 3 nest boxes for 9 hens (more once my chicks have grown up).

Is the shed literally on the ground up on blocks? If its directly on the ground then damp would be my main worry, ours is on 2 breeze blocks either end. Something tried to burrow into ours once, into one of the nest boxes, rats I think but we put a piece of timber over the hole and they never tried again.

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Chicken Coop Materials

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Good ground material for chicken coop?

Hello! It’s winter again, and as a result my chicken coop is getting extremely muddy from the rain.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I could safely put as ground material in the chicken coop (such as specific kinds of gravel, bark, or soil) that will not harm my chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, and pheasant? I’m most worried about them eating it and it blocking up their digestive system. The goal is to reduce the mud in the coop for the next five months or so so they (and I) don’t have to wade around in it.

Thank you! I appreciate any help or advice, especially if you have used a certain kind of ground cover before successfully.

well gravel is probably good to keep the mud down, but they need somewhere that they can still scratch.

that is why…..

I live on a bush block with a LOT of gum trees that are very messy so when the chicken coop gets so muddy I just rake all the leaves and sticks and put that in

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Chicken Coop Door Automatic

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Chicken Owners Survey?

Hi, for school I have to make a scaled down version of an automatic chicken coop door that closes at night and opens in the morning, I was wondering if does of you with chickens answer a few simple questions, it would be great if everyone could participate and answer truthfully.

1. Would you be interested in an automatic chicken door? Yes or no
2.How many chickens do you keep? Between 5-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-100, Other
3.Would you purchase one if available cheaply to you? Yes no
4.What materials would you like to see used? Wood, plastic,metal (pick how many you want)
5. Would you be worried about the product failing to work? Yes no
6. How much would you be willing to pay? (truthfully) 50-100, 100-300, 300-600, 600-1000.

If you would like to add something or think I should add more questions let me know.

My dad owns chickens and I’ve taken care of them many times when he’s out of town.

1. To open automatically in the morning… Yes.
To close automatically at night… No.
I have to do a head count at night to make sure the chickens are all in the coop. If I’m out there at night, I could just close the door myself. Also, all the chickens come out at the same time in the morning, but they all go in at different times at night. I would be afraid that the door would close and there would still be a couple wondering around outside the coop.

2. 10-20
3. Yes
4. Wood. Plastic tends to hold in the smell of animals and metal would be to loud if the chickens peck at the door.
5. No.
6. Under $50

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Chicken Coops Kits

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

building a chicken coop?

im thinking of buying a chicken coop plans and material kit. it says it says you can have your choice of tongue and groove 1 x 6 siding or
4 x 8 sheets 7/16th hardboard woodgrain siding. which is best?

Tongue and groove is the stronger choice and will last longer but is much more expensive, or can be. Either choice would be a good one. If you have the money go for the tongue and groove. It will also look a bit nicer.

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Chicken Coop Plans A-Frame

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment

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Chicken Coop Requirements

Written by ChickenFarmer on April 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment

how to build a chicken coop?

these can’t be bigger than 24′x24′. It should be able to keep eggs from cracking, also with water containers that will not putrefy, nor feed become moldy.
Also it should have a method for easy cleaning that will not erode the floor of th coop and a natural air filtration system to eliminate odors.
When is cold chickens must be kept warm when is hot they must be kept cold.
And also the materials can’t be too expensive.

I know these sounds too specific but this is for a project and i need i ideas in how can i design a chicken coop that can meet these requirements.

I Will Appreciate all the help Possible. Thanks.
These project is for my Engineering class and yes my teacher might be crazy for asking all these.

DIY DOC hit the nail on the head!

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