Having planned to build your own hen house for your new flock you need to decide on a chicken coop design that both you and your hens can live with. While most people think that a chicken coop is nothing more than a little box for the chickens to go into at night or when the weather is bad there is a lot more to it if you want to have happy hens that are going to provide you with a constant supply of fresh eggs. There is a lot to think about however these are three of the more important points you need to keep in mind when building your chickens a home.

1. Chicken Coop and Design: Even if you have purchased a set of professionally drawn up plans for your new hen house you should still sit down and plan the entire installation on a piece of paper. Keep in mind that you and your neighbors are going to have to look at your coop every day, with this in mind you need to pick out colors for the walls and the roof so that they are aesthetically pleasing and place your coop in an area that does not detract from the overall appearance of your yard.

2. Function: Of course you new hen house is made to house your birds but when choosing your chicken coop design you need to consider functionality. Chickens are messy birds by nature and produce most of their waste when they are roosting at night. Build your coop so that you can clean it easily with doors that open outwards so that you can sweep and hose the mess out easily. You should slope the floor down towards the door so that the water will not puddle on the floor, your chickens need to have a dry home so this is important.

3. Ventilation: Your chickens need to have fresh air just like you do so make sure that your incorporate some form of ventilation into your chicken coop design. A window is the best way to cover this but you might want to use a sliding window without a ledge so that you do not have chickens roosting on your window sill and it is easy to open and close.

If you are not comfortable with your own ideas about creating your own hen house, you will find that there are a number of well thought out guides available online that include ideas for chicken coop design as well as information on where to place it and how to make sure that you have the ground properly prepared so that your new flock is well taken care of and keeps your egg basket full.

Buying a Chicken Coop can be quite costly, and you can easily build one for a quarter of the cost of buying…plus you have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself.

Chicken House Plans – Build A Comfortable Chicken Coop

Constructing a comfortable chicken coop for your chicken entails paying close attention to the details in the building plans. Indeed constructing a chicken coop without adequate plans is a complete waste of money, time, building tools and materials. In your chicken house plans, make provision for the comfort of the chicken.

Make sure that you provide them with a spacious place to live in if you want them to be healthy. The least amount of space required for every chicken in a coop is about four square feet. Therefore, make out the number of chicken you plan to raise before constructing the chicken coop. Chicken house plans have never been that easy. It is quite easy to determine that for 30 chickens for instance you would need to build at least 120 square feet of chicken coop. It would not be bad if you are able to build more than the required space. The more space they have the more they are able to enjoy and produce better eggs. Never try to beat down cost by limiting the space allotted to each chicken. It could eventually work against you.

Again, in your chicken house plans, do not give room for the overcrowding of chicken. It rather leads to negative effects like diseases, pests and cannibalism. If your chickens do not get enough air then they would be exposed to all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. They could be very weak and die eventually. Construct a perch for your chicken. It would be very filthy to see chicken droppings mix up with the eggs. Ensure that you have boxes or any other type of containers under the perch to collect the droppings that come through. Similarly you could you could use broom handles to provide them a comfortable place to perch. It helps to keep the perch free from diseases.

Also your chicken coop should be well ventilated to prevent the chickens from sweating. Sweat promotes the development of diseases and ailments on the skin. Supply your chicken coop with small vents or windows to allow the sweat to evaporate. Indeed the best position for a window is one that does not face the direction of the wind. This position keeps stale air out and rather brings in fresher air.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances you should have a maximum of six chickens per nesting box. As much as possible the nesting boxes should be dark. This
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makes the chicken feel comfortable and relaxed. To prevent the eggs from cracks you could place straw shavings in the nesting boxes.

If you know how to design chicken house plans remember that the chicken coops should be strong to inhibit intruders. The wood used should be sturdy enough. Push your chicken after construction to see if it is really strong. If it shakes then you have not applied all the principles of how to design chicken house plans.

What is a chicken coop for? The answer is simple: chicken coops are for keeping chickens in. And they are not just a box or.

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