The plastic chicken coop: the pros and cons of housing your chickens in plastic coops
There is a lot to be said for plastic…especially when it comes to a plastic chicken coop.
It’s easy to clean, it’s light, it’s colorful. The only commercially available plastic chicken coop, The Omlet Eglu (sic), has been selling to a manufacturer in the UK for the last few years.
But before that came about, plastic has been used in the manufacture of chicken coops in some very ingenious ways. Browse the web and you will come across plastic chicken coop plans and plastic chicken coops made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plumbing pipe.
Those gadgets are quite functional, they usually won’t win any design or beauty awards, or impress your neighbors. But on the plus side, they’re pretty easy to clean (which, by the way, is a big deal).
An interesting feature in one of the plastic coop plans is that the bottom pipes are set to retain water, giving the structure some weight, preventing it from blowing away during windy weather.
Draining the water makes the chicken coop work quite portable. And the portability is definitely a plus to help get your chickens as “outdoors” as possible and to help prevent where your chickens run from turning into a mud puddle or dust bowl. (It doesn’t take a lot of chickens to strip a square yard of grass in a matter of a few days.)
If you’re concerned that plastic isn’t “green,” but you still think using plastic is the best way to make your chicken coop, you might consider recycling old plastic structures like plastic dog houses and plastic playhouses for kids. Once again, surfing the web you will find instructions on how to turn these things into functional cooperatives.
The positive characteristics of plastic have led many manufacturers to offer easy-to-clean plastic nest boxes, plastic feeding and water systems, and other plastic coop amenities.
Plastic netting is required in many coop building plans and executions. Here again, the lightness, ease of cleaning and flexibility of plastic are put to good use.
Whether or not you decide to buy a plastic chicken coop or make one as a DIY plumbing or recycling project, considering a plastic chicken coop is definitely a viable and practical option.