For many different reasons, homeowners are opting to raise chickens in their backyards. One of the first things they have to purchase is a chicken coop to house the chickens. There are many routes you can take in order to get a chicken coop.
It is easy to purchase prefabricated chicken coops and chicken coop kits. But on the other hand, if you are a do-it-yourself type of person, you might want to save a few dollars and build the chicken coop on your own. There are many different online chicken coop plans that available.
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Things To Consider When Picking Chicken Coop Plans
Choosing the right one will depend on a lot of different factors. But, do not assume that any one type is considered better than others. Basically, this will depend on the builder’s needs and preference. However, good chicken coop plans should provide basic information such as height and width specifications for your coop, ventilation instructions, guidelines for window placements and instructions for nesting boxes and perches.
Once your chicken coop plan accounts for these things, think about how these items will impact the overall construction of your chicken coop. This article is going to list a few of the things that you should consider when it comes to plans of chicken coops.
Location
There is no set place where a chicken coop must reside. This will depend on what is needed by the owner. Although most people prefer to place the coop close to the house so that they will not have to travel that much distance between the house and the coop.
Remember that you will be walking between the two structures a quite a few times during the day to check on the chickens, feed them and clean the coop. In addition to convenience, homeowners must consider appearance when it comes to building their chicken coops. This is why you should opt for chicken coop plans that have structures that will blend in with your home and the structures in the neighborhood. You do not want to build a structure that will bring down the neighborhood property values.
Size
The size of your chicken coop will also depend on numerous things. First, how many chickens do you plan to have? Obviously, the more chickens, the larger the chicken coop will have to be. However, if you look around on the internet for free poultry coop plans, there are various ones for small, medium and large coops.
One rule of thumb is to have four square feet for each chicken. This number is increased to ten square feet per chicken if you unwisely plan to build a chicken coop that does not have a chicken run or fenced in yard. Keep in mind that chickens need plenty of space to feel comfortable. This helps them to relax and produce eggs. If they do not have enough space, they tend to peck one another. This is an undesirable chicken behavior that you want to avoid at all costs. When it comes to space in a chicken coop, it is best to have too much space as opposed to too little.
Besides, you will always have the option to purchase more chickens in the future to fill up the extra space. However, if you opt for chicken coop plans that create a space that is too small, you lose this future opportunity.
Ventilation
Make sure that you find chicken coop plans for free that account for proper ventilation of your chicken coop. Without this important step, heat and bad smells will have no place to go without adequate ventilation. Vents can be placed in the walls. Windows can be positioned to help bring in fresh air as well as get rid of foul air. It would be even better if this system had cross ventilation.
In addition to the windows and vents, build the chicken coop with an ample amount of wire mesh. As a matter of fact, wire mesh serves three purposes. It keeps the chickens in the coop, it brings in fresh air and it keeps predators out of the chicken coop.
If you plan on raising chickens, you will need a properly constructed chicken coop to house them. There is the option to buy a coop or build one yourself. If you choose to take the do-it-yourself route, go online and look at the various bird coop plans that are available for purchase.
Some people would say that you should figure out how many chickens you want to raise and then shop for chicken coops. However, others would reverse this process and look at chicken coops first to determine how many chickens they can afford to raise. It does not matter which option you prefer, but make sure that the chicken coop plans that you finally decide upon provides very user friendly instructions for building your new chicken coop.