And if you don’t have a PLAN before you start, then you are headed for frustration!

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

If you want to build a chicken coop fast and easy, then here are your options:

You can sit in your easy chair and do nothing but dream about it. (not recommended)

You can decide it’s too complicated or expensive. (also not recommended)

Or you can decide, “Well, I Can’t Finish Before I Start”, and begin planning a well organized project.

If the latter is the case, let’s begin to plan together, shall we? Ok, here we go…

Where do I live?  In town or a rural area?  Let’s assume that either you live in a rural area or you don’t have a city ordinance to prevent you from raising chickens.  Let’s see if we only want to raise a few as a hobby or possibly by a child as a 4H project, or if we want to start a backyard project to begin with to see how much time, money, and effort it takes to supplement our current income with the thought of growing it into a commercial operation.

What type of chickens do we want to raise?  There are layers, fryers, broilers, biddies, game chickens, and bantams along with specialty breeds.  Naturally we want to investigate the market price of each along with the cost of operation for each.  With this we decide which is best for the family.

Now we must decide where to put the coop.  If possible, lets select a high level spot to avoid having to do any grading.  This can be very costly.  Let’s decide how we will service the facility.  We need room between the coop and other buildings.  Supplies must be brought in and the house and yard must be cleaned on a regular basis.  Let’s stay as far as is reasonably possible from the house because of the odor that comes with chickens.  We also don’t want any water that drains toward the house for the same reason.

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

How much are we prepared to spend on the project to begin with?  We can save quite a bit of money if we do everything within the family, but if you are the only one to do the work, you may want to hire a professional carpenter.  Preferably one that has built chicken coops before.  If this is in fact the case, I am quite sure you can save quite a bit of time and money by getting a set of detailed plans and drawings.  I would suggest if this is what you decide to do.  Look at the ones you can find easily.

Before you buy a set, I have reviewed several and  I believe you will find the ones by Bill Keens the best on the market.  They are easy to understand, have several to choose from, and have all the necessary materials along with hardware listed.  They explain all details such as light and ventilation.

Thank you so much for visiting my building a chicken coop review website. I hope you have found it helpful.

Being raised on a farm, I know the location of any type of housing for chickens is very very important!  There is a most unpleasant odor connected with chicken droppings.  You must also be doubly sure no water from these chickens drains toward your house or any area that children play.

Your storeroom for supplies for your chickens can be attached to your chicken house or coop or at a remote location.  Remember that it’s necessary to have one.

In either case, you should plan to leave drive space between it and other buildings for ease of servicing the project.  This drive will be used regularly to clean the house.

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

Before you make your final decision, you should decide what type and breed of chickens you plan to raise.  There are several places you can get accurate information on different breeds of chickens.  Be careful, if you select bantam or game chickens, especially bantam.  They are the most beautiful, but they fly.

You will have to raise the height of your fence or in special cases, it may be cheaper to put a top on it.  Decide if you want layers, fryers, biddies (baby chicks), breeders or one that can be used for quail.  You will also be glad you considered the ease of operation of the project.

Predators are a problem for all types of chickens.  Be sure you place the necessary controls for them as you build.

As you select plans, you will save both time and money if you get plans that give a list of all materials you need for the coop.  Remember it takes your time each time you go to the supply house.

You may intend to do the complete project alone, but after you begin building chicken coop, decide you should have engaged the help of a professional carpenter.  It will be best if you make this decision before you begin.  I would suggest you decide how much money you can or want to spend on your project.  Many times a few additional dollars in the beginning will save many at the end.

If you decide to purchase building plans, after you look at several, I suggest you take your last look at “Building A Chicken Coop” by Bill Keenes.

Next, you need to ask yourself how serious you are about building a chicken coop.  Here’s why: If you are building this hen house just as a hobby, or just for fun you may not be familiar with different types of chickens.

There are broilers, fryers, breeding chickens, laying hens and others which all have different needs.  Is your backyard chicken coop going to be a completely new building for them or make an addition to the inside of another building you have now?

And remember, the location is one of the most important things to consider when building a chicken pen. The manure or chicken droppings have a terrible odor so you certainly don’t want it in the front yard. (This is one of the main reasons for building backyard chicken coop!

But there is an advantage to having chickens. The manure is some of the best fertilizer  you can find.  As you probably know already, a chicken has what is called a straight digestive tract, and have more droppings than other animals.

So as you decide on your location, see if you can find a flat spot a little larger than your building without doing any grading.  If you can’t you will definitely need to get prices on the grading.  If the location is sloping, you will have to have a ditch on the high side large enough to carry all water from the heaviest rains away from the house.

They have to be in a dry location.  The type preditors you have at your location must be addressed before you begin so that you may put the necessary guards in place before you start.

Whether this will just be a fun project as a hobby or a commercial operation started small to be expanded at a later date, you will save yourself  several dollars, a considerable amount of time and labor as well as many many heartaches.  For instance, should you decide to raise the bantam breed, they are smaller, the most beautiful breed but, they fly so you need a top on the pen.  If you intend to have biddies or baby chickens, you will need to have extra heat for most breeds.

If this is only a small project for a hobby, you may wish to make it movable so you can pull it to a different location.  Chickens will eat all the grass inside the backyard chicken coop.

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

If your goal is to find an easy to make chicken coop, then I recommend purchasing a blueprint to help ensure that your hen house gets built the right way. When looking for a guide, make sure to select one that has all the hardware  listed. (such as hinges, bolts, nuts , nails, etc is included.)  This saves both money as well as time and frustration!

One good resource for checking your coop for different needs will be the agricultural college in your state.  These people are most helpful, but they can’t and won’t make any recommendations as to the best place to purchase your plans. That’s what this building a chicken coop review blog is about! 

I hope this brief article helps you enjoy your new project.  It should be fun to do.

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

The location should be well thought out.  Remember, water flows down hill, so if you can find a high flat spot the size (or larger) of your chicken coop and chicken yard combined, that will be best.  The chicken droppings or manure does not have a pleasant odor so you don’t want it close to your house and you don’t want it draining toward you house.

If you plan to have a storeroom attached to your chicken coop, be sure you have drive space to bring your feed and supplies.  It will be best to think about ease of cleaning and disposing of the droppings BEFORE building a chicken coop.  Remember, this will be some of the best fertilizer for your lawn and special shrubs and flowers.

You should decide how much it will cost for the materials and how much you can allocate to the project.  Will this be a recreational or commercial project?  In other words, is this just a fun project that you may decide you no longer enjoy after a few years, or are you building this chicken coop to make your living with?  Knowing this will help you decide the quality of the materials you buy. when building your chicken coop.

There are also other considerations such as, fryers or laying hens, or biddies.  It may cost a few dollars more, but you want to think in the beginning about “Ease of Operation”.  They must be fed, watered, and cleaned up after.

Do you plan to use a professional carpenter for this project or do you have the knowledge and time to build it yourself?  There will be quite a savings if you are able to do it yourself. That’s the reason I started this Building a chicken coop review website.

This is a review site – Click Here To Visit the Building A Chicken Coop Official Website

If you are going to purchase building plans, be sure to select one that has list of all materials needed as well as supplied to complete the project such as nails, bolts, screws etc.

Building a chicken coop can be rewarding. There will be a great deal of personal satisfaction after you finish of knowing you did it yourself.  I hope this quick article has given you some helpful ideas to help you with your new chicken coop project.