There are an abundant number of hen house designs. The most important thing to take into consideration is that chickens are not very clean. Like any bird they are going to leave droppings wherever they go. Your new hen house is going to need to be cleaned on a regular basis to keep your hens healthy.

Most hen house designs advise that you start with a nice solid floor. A poured cement one works well especially if you lean it a little towards one end. By using a cement floor you can use a broom to sweep the worst of the debris and then use a garden hose to wash the whole hen house out. Also to make this easier, contemplate building a low wall out of cinder blocks before you build the wooden walls. This will not only make hosing the hen house out easier but the cinder blocks will help keep out unwanted guests.

Many hen house designs include building the nesting boxes so that they can be accessed through a hinged roof. This makes it easy for you to collect the eggs your hens lay daily as well as change the bedding area on a regular basis. When it comes time to give the whole hen house a complete cleaning you can prop the ceiling open and hose the nesting boxes out with the rest of the house.

Hen house designs should accommodate feed trays that are simple to remove so that they can be taken out and scrubbed completely. A simple feed tray needs to be over the top of your hens’ backs and should provide at least 2 to 3 linear inches of distance per bird. It should have a small lip built all the way around it to keep the feed in place so that your hens do not make a mess and waste feed.

Good hen house designs include as many ways to simplify cleaning as possible. The cleaner you can keep your hen house the healthier and happier your flock will be. A healthy birds will provide you with years of fresh eggs and meat.

Buying a Chicken Coop can be quite expensive, and you can easily create one for a way less than the cost of buying…plus you have the pleasure of knowing that you did it yourself.

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