Chicken Coop Plans – Tips For Choosing the Best Chicken House Plans For You

Searching for chicken coop plans online will give you hundreds if not thousands of options for ways to build your chicken coop. To help you choose wisely, I’ve outlined below some things you need to know to help you pick the best chicken coop plans for you.

Chicken Coop Plans Tips

Size – Make sure the chicken coop plans are big enough. Generally speaking, and depending on different chicken breeds, each chicken should be given about 4 square feet of space. So if you’re planning on keeping 5 chickens than you need your chicken coop to be around 20 square feet or more to keep those chickens happy and laying

So look for the dimensions of the chicken coop nesting boxes in the chicken coop plans. If they’re in the plans, make sure the size if right for the breed of chicken you’re raising. If they’re not in the chicken coop plans…get some new ones!

Anything smaller will lead to problems you just don’t want…excessive pecking, disease and cannibalism being the more obvious ones.

Warm and Dry – It’s essential to keep your chickens warm and dry in the cold wet weather. Seal up any draughts, insulate the walls and ceiling and close most, but not all, of the vents. Checks for leaks on a regular basis until you’ve sealed them all.

Dampness is a breeding ground for disease in hen houses so the drier the better. It will prevent mould and fungus too.Replace the dry grass or straw on the floor about once a week.

Check your chicken tractor plans to ensure thay have enough windows and vents for your needs, if not obvious from the plans just look at the small chicken coop pictures that are normally provided so you can see what the finished article looks like.

Easy to Keep Clean – Make sure you can access the chicken coops easily. I make the whole front of the coop a door on hinges so I can open it up and clean out with ease. Obviously, I keep this closed at all other times and have a cut out door for the chickens to use. Have the floor gently slope towards the door so you can sweep out with ease and hose down with the water draining straight out the front of the coop. Check your chicken coop plans for these features.

Go Portable if Possible – Another way to go is with portable chicken coop plans. Being movable, it’s possible to shift the whole chicken tractor around to different parts of your backyard, so it might be possible to provide chickens with extra shade in the hot summer months and more shelter from the elements during the long, dark days of winter.

By incorporating these simple steps and tips into your small chicken coop plans you can save yourself a lot of both time and trouble as well as money in this highly enjoyable and worthwhile hobby. So just take your time and make sure to look over the various chicken coop plans available online today and you’re sure to come across the right chicken coop plans for you, your garden and your chickens.

Chicken Coop Plans