Backyard Chicken Hen House Plans

A backyard chicken coop is a poultry building or housing structure where chickens are raised. The inside of a chicken coop typically includes such coop features such as chicken nest boxes (for those raising chickens for eggs); chicken feeders and waterers; and chicken roosts where the birds can perch to rest or sleep in the evening. Many backyard chicken hobbyists also construct coops with additional features such as windows and connected wire chicken runs so that their birds may gain access to sunshine and fresh air. Regardless of the type of chicken coop you plan to construct, it is important to take the needs of your birds into consideration when building chicken coops.

Chicken hobbyists building chicken coops often have different pictures in their heads when thinking about chicken coop plans and housing designs. Some individuals may have a picturesque idea of a country-style miniature chicken house, complete with a white picket-fenced chicken run. Other individuals may possess a more utilitarian chicken coop plan idea consisting of a simple wire chicken cage propped up on wood beams for the chicken manure fertilizer to fall through.

Whatever your creative inclination, the chicken coop that you build for your flock does not need to be elaborate. A poultry coop can be as simple or fancy as you wish. If you're a handy man, or simply skilled with a few construction tools, you can easily build a simple box-shaped coop without buying any of the many different "simple chicken coop plans" available online. However, you must integrate a few basic chicken coop requirements no matter what type of chicken coop you choose to build. Such requirements should also be kept in mind when evaluating ready-made coop options.

Chicken Coop Size Requirements:

Plan your chicken coop dimensions carefully. It is critically essential to ensure that your flock has suitable space. A variety of health problems may arise if chickens are not given enough floor space in their chicken coop. These include cannibalism, low egg lay rates and feather-picking. The more floor space you provide to the birds, the better. Chickens with enough space often perform more positively than their small-cage counterparts.
That being said, not everyone has the acreage to give their birds unlimited roaming space. Give your chickens adequate room by allowing a minimum of two to three square feet per bird, or more for larger chicken breeds. Also, the space requirements in a chicken coop will vary as your flock matures. Understandably, baby chickens need far less space than larger, mature meat birds.

Planning Your Chicken Coop's Ventilation:

Your chicken coop MUST be well ventilated! Just as humans don't like stuffy houses, chickens don't like stuffy coops! If you don't give your chickens enough ventilation, fumes can build up to a toxic level. Vents, placed on the south or east-facing walls of your chicken coop, can help to create proper airflow while also protecting the chickens from cold drafts. Alternatively, drill large holes on the north and south sides of the coop where the roof meets the walls. To keep out wild, disease-carrying bird visitors, cover these holes with mesh screens.

Coop ventilation goes hand-in-hand with coop insulation. Proper building insulation will help keep your chickens dry and warm in the winter, as well as cool in the summer. To keep the flock comfortable during these cold nights (and during the hot summer days), invest in proper coop insulation. 1.5 inches of Styrofoam sheets between the walls and ceiling provides excellent structural insulation. To reflect heat during the summer, some individuals choose to also use aluminum roofing and white paint. Additionally, cool the chicken coop by planting tall vegetation and/or trees around its exterior. If you do this, be careful not to let the plants block any ventilation holes and windows that you may have made. To provide extra insulation during the winter, you may also wish to try stacking hay bales against the north walls of the barn. Such rudimentary insultation is cheap, and when winter is over you can use the hay as litter.

While specific chicken coop plans and coop designs may differ in their creative aspects, all backyard hobbyists should ensure their chicken coops implement certain common structural characteristics.

Protect Your Chicken Coop From Vermin With Rodent-Proof Designs:

The chicken coop you've built must keep rodents and other pests out. The coop should also be strong enough to withstand the digging or scraping of a fox, dog and other larger predators. Small pests such as rats, mice, snakes, and other critters may also wreck havoc in a poultry flock. Such problems can easily be prevented with thoughtful, proactive construction including fences, strong foundations and covered ventilation holes.

Planning Your Chicken Coop's Flooring:

There are many different flooring material choices for backyard hobbyists. The most economical is plain ol' dirt, packed down firmly to create a sturdy foundation. However, such floors are very vulnerable to rodents. Dirt floors also do not provide the best insulation during the winter, to say nothing of the chore of cleaning a dirt floor.

Concrete, if installed properly, is an excellent alternative to dirt floors. It is also the most expensive, though its easy-to-clean surface makes it the most sanitary flooring option. A chicken coop with a concrete floor is not only a breeze to clean, but also rodent-proof.

In-between concrete and dirt on the cost scale is wood-based flooring. Wooden flooring is relatively easy to install in your chicken coop. However, it may be susceptible rotting (especially the wood under the bird waterers) and is not especially sanitary. It is also not rodent-proof (then again, very few things are!). However, due to its lower costs, wood chicken coop floors are typically popular among chicken hobbyists.

Planning Your Chicken Coop's Amenities:

Your chicken coop should have a place for the birds to roost, good drainage, nests (this is only necessary if you are raising egg laying hens), and enough feeders, waterers and space for the number of birds you are raising.

Chicken Roosts:

Roosts should be made of smooth lumber or thin, sturdy pipes made of plastic or metal. Avoid using roosts that are sized too large or too small, due to the fact that the birds will not be able to grasp them well. Also, make sure there is enough roosting space for all of the chickens. Some individuals like to setup a ladder-style chicken roost to allow the birds to sleep at varying levels of height.

Chicken Nests:

The nests you build in your chicken coop should be approximately twelve by fifteen inches long and thirteen inches deep. Provide litter or some other type of soft nesting material to keep the eggs from cracking. Allow the hens to become accustomed to the nesting boxes by placing them on the ground for the first two weeks. After two weeks, place the nests approximately 18 inches off of the ground. To encourage your hens to lay in their nests instead of on the floor, situate the nests in a dark area away from the general activity of the chicken house. Some people further entice their hens by hanging a flap of burlap or thin plastic over the entrance of the nest.

Feeders and Waterers:

Be sure to have enough feeders and waterers so that all of your chickens have room. This is important because the chickens on the low end of the pecking order are sometimes pushed away from the feed and water if there is not enough space.

The Chicken Coop Door:

The coop should have a large door that you can enter through AND a small door for the birds. The human door should be wide and tall enough to allow you to carry in large objects such as a feed bag or plywood. The chicken entrance should measure about 10-inches (width) by 13-inches (height). For other poultry birds, like geese and ducks, the size should be adjusted accordingly. The bird door is quite easy to construct out of a flap cut into the coop wall with hinges on one side and a latch on the other. If the door is high off the ground, keep some extra wood on hand to make a ramp that leads to the ground.

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