What You Need To Consider When Designing A Chicken Coop

     Designing a chicken coop can be a lot of fun, but if you are new to the idea of raising backyard chickens for eggs and poultry meat it can also be a horrendous ordeal—if you aren't sure what you are doing. They key to designing a chicken coop is to know two things before you begin. What are the basic needs of chickens and what do you want your coop to accomplish?

Number one, the basic needs of chickens are very much like the basic needs of any livestock or pet for that matter. Chickens need a hen house that will protect them from all types of predators—flying, climbing, and digging. Predators come in all shapes and sizes and they are looking for a quick meal, be it chicken, eggs or both.

The coop must provide shelter from snow, sleet, rain, wind, cold and excessive heat. Then you need to be concerned about how much space each chickens has--about three square feet is needed.A shortage of space and the more aggressive birds will attack and harass the more docile in the flock--sometimes to the point of death.

Other questions that need to be answered are: "What do you want the coop to do?" That of course refers to the type of habitat you wish to create. Do you want chickens to provide poultry meat? If so you will need to approach the design of the coop from that aspect.

Are the chickens going to be primarily for providing fresh eggs? If that is the case then they are certain other attributes your chicken house will need.

Things like; nesting boxes—a place for the hens to lay their eggs--and those nesting boxes need to be attractive to the birds. If you build nesting boxes the wrong way and the hens refuse to nest there, you windup wasting time, money and effort. Chickens will nest where they feel most comfortable. So you need to provide the conditions that make their choice the one you want.

At the same time you don't want the nesting areas to be so comfortable and attractive that the birds choose to roost there. You will want to make sure they lay their eggs there, but go elsewhere to sleep.

What are the steps you need to take to protect your costly chicken feed from being raided by sparrows and squirrels? Are you making sure the waterier won't freeze over in cold weather? Are the birds getting the proper amount of natural light? Is the bedding easy to clean out and replace?

Can you see the balancing act you may have to go through?

The most important step you can take when designing a chicken coop is to use a good set of plans. Quality plans will cover off these and many other areas that need to be addressed.

In conclusion your goal is to create a functional chicken coop that houses and protects your birds and allows them to thrive, but at the same time is easy to maintain with minimal effort. A quality set of building plans is the best place to start.