Chicken Coop Building Plans: Make a DIY Chicken Coop
If you are considering making a DIY chicken coop, you will need to get some plans for building chicken coops. Alternatively, you may want to design a coop yourself. If you’ve never kept poultry before, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help you make up your mind when it comes to deciding what type of chicken coop is right for you and your chickens.
If this is your first time, you’ll be amazed at how much waste a few chickens can produce! I have six ex-battery hens and find I’m doing a quick poop “cleanup” every day and a sleeping area cleanup weekly. For this reason, when looking at multiple coop plans, make sure the one you choose has easy access for cleaning. This could be through a back door that is separated from the external corridor, as access can be difficult if your only access is through the corridor.
Access is important for other reasons as well. You will need to collect eggs daily, as leaving them in the coop can cause problems. The chickens may be tempted to start eating the eggs if they are left for too long and this can become a regular problem, thus depriving you of the eggs. Also, you will need easy access to change the water (they drink a lot!) and to feed.
Another important thing to consider when looking at plans to build chicken coops is whether your coop will be stationary or mobile. I started with a mobile chicken coop and it was great as it would change the position of the chicken coop when the grass below was bare, allowing it to grow back. It also made “cleaning up” a lot easier. Right now I am using an old pen to house my chickens and it is fixed to the ground. Cleaning is much more difficult since I have to get into the coop with a shovel. MY recommendation would be that if you intend to keep up to 6 chickens, you can make a great DIY chicken coop that is light enough for 2 people to move around the garden.
You should also consider where the cooperative is likely to be located. Too close to the house, and you may face unpleasant odors. Too far, and feeding and collecting eggs can become a chore. Mine is located about 20 feet from my back door and that seems fine to me.
You should carefully study the plans for building chicken coops that you have decided to use to make sure that they are not too complicated and that they are not outside of your skill set. Many of the plans downloadable from the internet can be intricate designs, requiring a master craftsman (or woman!) rather than someone with average skills. This can easily result in an abandoned project, and you could easily have wasted money unnecessarily on materials.
On the subject of chickens, although there are many breeds and varieties that you can choose from, if the possibility arises, I invite you to give ex-battery chickens a home. In the UK, the Battery Hen Welfare Trust rescues these birds when they would otherwise have been destroyed. I’m not sure if something similar is happening in the United States or in other parts of the world, but if it is, I urge you to consider it. My ex-battery hens are about two years old now and each produces a beautiful egg each day. They are very friendly and after a shaky start, when some were almost featherless, they are now beautiful chickens, with feathers to match those chickens at agricultural shows. (You can see photos of my chickens in the early days via the links below.)