Tips For Building a Cheap and Professional Chicken Coop at Home

If you have planned to build a nice chicken coop all by your own, then you must take care that it is strong and secure in order to protect your chickens from all the potential predators as well as they will be healthy and safe in it. But in order to build the best chicken coop for your chickens, you must have the best plan for reference. And you will find some of the critical points that you must take care before you go ahead and start building one.

Protection from predators
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The most important thing of your coop building activity is it's design. It must be designed in such a way that it can easily protect your chickens from any of those shrewd predators hiding around the bushes. So the wire mesh must be strong enough for those crooked dogs, cats and raccoons to rip it apart. This is where a time tested chicken coop plan will come in handy.

The predator list don't just end here. The next are the rats. They can easily dig through the ground and enter the coop from the bottom if the flooring is not tough enough. The rat problem can be easily prevented by making a strong fence around the coop, bureid about 12 - 14 inches into the ground.  These rats are attracted from the odour of the chicken feed and it's droppings and what is more serious is that they are extremely fond of eggs.

Protection from climatic changes
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Apart from being strong enough to protect your chickens from the common predators, you chicken coop must also be designed to withstand extreme climatic changes especially if you are living in a country where there are extremes of all seasons. So the design of the coop must be in such a way that your chickens get total protection from extreme winter, snow or wind.

Providing space and comfort for your chickens
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The coop must be structured in such a way that your chickens have enough space to move around, a place to rest at night and a privacy to lay eggs. So your chickens must be given roosting poles for them to sleep comfortably and you must also ensure that each chicken gets at least 8 - 10 inches of space while sitting on it. You should also provide nest boxes for your chickens to lay eggs without any disturbance. 3 to 4 chickens should be able to share one nest box. So you need to design it accordingly, and it should be little above the floor level. There must be enough privacy for each chicken for laying. so take care that you position the nest box accordingly.

Now regarding the spacing, you must ensure that each chicken gets at least 3 square feet of space. Your coop must be roomy and spacious enough for your chickens. A spacious and room coop will not only keep your chickens happy and healthy but also increases their egg laying ability.

Now the feeding part. Ensure that your chickens have easy access to fresh feed and water. And it is very important to note that the feeder and waterer are kept at a height of 6-8 inches from the ground.  Your coop must also be easily accessible. Easy accessibility can help you clean the coop so that bacteria and bugs do not breed.

If you are planning to buy a chicken coop from the market (even for a pre-built one) you will have to pay through your nose. I am sure you don't want to lose your hard earned money for a chicken coop. So the best and economical way of doing this is to build one on your own, jjust like i did, and believe me, it;s not that hard with a good book like 'Building a Chicken Coop' by Bill Keene who's a former poultry farmer and author. He has provided sufficient and easy to follow designs and plans which can easily help you build a professional chicken coop in minimum time.