Easy To Build Chicken Coops
Farming chickens is a great way to produce food for your family.
There are also plans for really easy to build chicken coops so you can get the whole family in on it!
But be warned that it can also become a complete nightmare if the hen house that you have made is not up to the job. Fortunately there are a couple of really easy things that you can do to avoid this.
1- Plan, plan plan
Many people think that to build chicken coops you just need to throw together a couple of pieces of timber, a bit of netting and add in some chickens. They then wonder why their hens soon sulk, stop laying and sometimes even keel over dead!
Or worse still, they don’t allow for any sort of security and they keep loosing their flocks to predators like dogs, foxes, snakes, opossums, stoats, weasels and yes, even owls!
Like us, chickens need a certain amount of space, light, air, and water. You also need to be able to access the coop with the minimum of effort. It is incredibly difficult to account for all of these if you choose to build a chicken coops that don’t have a proper blueprint that allows for all of these.
2 – One size does not fit all!
Whatever your budget and however you choose to house your flock, whether you build a hen house, buy a pre-made one or get a contractor to make one for you, make sure that it fits your site, the size of your flock, is secure enough for the predominate predators in your area and that the windows are positioned in the right place to grab the maximum sun in your area. It is really tragic when you hear of people that build chicken coops that are completely unsuitable for their needs or location.
3- Build chicken coops that suit you too!
Yes the chickens may have to live in it, but you have to work in it. There is no point having a five star hotel for the chickens if it is going to give you pain to collect the eggs or clean the coop out. We’ve all got tales of the times that we have hit our heads or jammed our fingers collecting eggs from those those darned heavy lift doors? Let’s not mention the back-ache from constant stooping to clean out the coop!