Choosing the Right Size For Your Chicken Coop By Shannon Clark

Before you start the building process, one of the most important things is that you're choosing the right size for your chicken coop. Individuals who do not put enough time and consideration into this process often find that they build a chicken coop that does not meet their needs properly.

If you build it too small your chickens will not be laying eggs properly, so it's vital you're making sure you're doing what you need to correctly to get your daily supply of fresh eggs like you wanted.

Here are the main things that will factor into you choosing the proper size for your chicken coop.

Total Number Of Birds

The first thing you need to take into consideration when building your chicken coop is the total number of birds you plan to house. If you're planning on keeping three or more chickens, you're going to need a medium or large size.

If you try and go around this and make it smaller despite having more birds, there is a very high chance that you will run into some major problems. Be sure you're choosing the size correctly.

Total Area Of Land Mass

Moving on, the next thing that you must factor in is the total area of land mass you are able to build on. It's vital that you're using land that is landscaped properly, so if you live on a small farm and don't have much flat land available, this too will influence how large of a coop you can build.

If you want to spend extra money to have the area landscaped more that's fine, just understand exactly what you need to get done before building.

Budget For The Chicken Coop

Last, you want to consider your budget for the chicken coop. There are many ways you can decrease the costs and build a cheap chicken house, but when you are building larger you will need more building materials - there's no way around that, so you should expect to pay slightly more.

So be sure you're keeping these points in mind as you go about the building process. If you plan correctly you will choose the perfect size for your chicken coop that will encourage your chickens to lay you fresh eggs on a daily basis.

Here is more information on how you can build a chicken house on a budget. To read my review of 'Building A Chicken Coop', please click here

Need Help Building a Chicken Coup? By Jason Scofield

Building a chicken coop just makes economical sense and will be one of the best investments you'll ever make. Not only will you have a self sustained miniature-farm that recycles your food scraps, provides high quality fertilizer and produces fresh organic eggs, but you'll be proud to know that you made something with your own two hands.

Before you start building, make sure to acquire good advice and guidelines regarding materials and methods as this will ensure that your chickens are protected from predators, their health is maintained and it will also ensure delivery of more eggs as well as better quality eggs. Many of the products available on the internet to assist you in building a chicken coop require no fancy tools or previous experience.

These products are especially created to enable even a novice with no technical experience to build a chicken coop with basic tools that can be found in most garages. These products will guide you in acquiring and assembling the correct materials, ventilation, insulation, positioning, lighting, perches, nesting, litter collection and protection from the elements and other animals.

It doesn't matter whether you require a big or small coop, or if you have a small or big budget. These products will provide you with options for different sizes and functionalities, for example a self enclosed mid-size chicken coop for just a small fraction of the price of buying a new one, a large premium coop that is easy to clean, automatically collects eggs and allows you to maintain more chickens or a portable chicken coop that makes cleaning simple and provides nutritious fertilizer for your garden.

Visit DIY Chicken Coop for detailed step-by-step instructions on how to build an affordable chicken coop that promotes healthy chickens, protects them from predators and ultimately delivers more high quality eggs. http://www.diy-chicken-coop.com.

A Chicken Ark - Just One Weekend and Three Chickens Equals Beautiful Eggs For Years to Come By Mary Marshall

Keeping chickens is simple and very rewarding. The easiest way to get started on a small scale is to build a chicken ark. These are the triangular shaped coops that can be moved around (which is why they're sometimes called chicken tractors).

In just one weekend you could get set up with a chicken ark and three laying hens - who will start lying eggs soon after they are settled in. Chicken arks are straightforward to build, even if you haven't got advanced woodworking skills, if you have a good set of plans and instructions.

Building a chicken ark is a great project to do with your kids - they can come with you to get the materials, read the instructions, do some of the construction - or even make the whole thing themselves. Imagine how proud they'd be!

We found loads of plans on the Internet - but most of them were pretty sketchy. It was well worth buying plans that were clear and complete with good illustrations. We found some chicken ark plans that not only have good instructions on how to make an ark, but also for two bigger chicken coops as well.

Another plus was a complete guide to keeping chickens, which were just right for us as beginners. We feed them on vegetables scraps, a small amount of chicken feed and grit, and of course they forage on weeds, insects and grubs. The three girls are thriving and have been laying an egg an day each.

We do like to treat them though. Once a week we make up a mix of porridge oats with some milk plus a tin of cat food and some of our meat scraps - they love it and come to us to be fed.

Chickens also love to take dust baths, and the dust helps prevent parasites on their feathers and skin. We particularly like the chicken ark design because we can just move it to a dry spot and the chickens can roll over, flap about and cover themselves in dust.

Our first three chickens are laying now - beautiful eggs, completely different from supermarket ones, and they'll go on laying beautiful eggs for at least three years. Not bad for one weekend's work.

Next spring we're planning to build the bigger hen house and get a few more chickens - and then we'll even have enough eggs to sell some to our neighbors.

If you're planning to keep chickens, and like the idea of a chicken ark, I'd recommend you visit the chicken ark for easy to build chicken ark plans.

Raising Hens - Make Sure Cleanliness is Next to Godliness in Your Chicken House Plans By Sydney A Hoover

Raising hens as domesticated fowl has been with us for over 10,000 years. However, I don't think you'll find any mention of them in the Old Testament where most people think the saying "cleanliness is next to Godliness" comes from. Our chicken is one of the most common domestic animals, and for the obvious reasons: some folks like to eat them while others like the eggs. However, even in ancient times there was extra attention given to keeping the flock clean.

Your hens like to scratch at the ground to find seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice to eat. Because of this, they are susceptible to various diseases. When planning your chicken house, make sure the area you assign for this activity is free from any bugs, pests or insects that may harm your hens. Many breeds of hens will live as long as five years and some up to eleven years old if you keep them clean and healthy! (I think the Guinness record was a 16-year hold hen.)

Now if you're like our family, we cherish our chickens as family pets and use them as a source for fresh eggs. If you have the right laying breed, it can produce as many as 300 eggs a year. Obviously, egg production decreases after each year, but keeping them clean and healthy is a key to full egg production.

Another thing to consider in your chicken house plans is the "social" atmosphere of raising hens. Chickens are a communal-type bird, and they generally live together in flocks. They have a communal approach to the incubation of eggs and raising of young chickens. Individual hens within a flock atmosphere will try to dominate the other hens, thus she establishes the "pecking order." The dominant hens will be first in line when it comes time to feeding and nesting.

When there is cause to remove a hen or rooster from your flock, this disrupts the pecking order until a new order is established. You have to be careful with young hens added to an existing flock because this pecking order behavior can cause a sort of chicken rivalry, and young chickens can be injured.

Keeping the nesting area clean is a must. Collecting your eggs frequently and regularly will be a start in the right direction. Your hens will actually try to lay eggs in a nest that already has an egg or more already within the nesting box. Hens will even go so far as to move eggs around, taking eggs from one nesting box and moving them into the nesting box where they laid their own eggs. Frequent collection will prevent some of the issues in this area, and some folks who raise hens will carefully place some placebo or fake eggs (like plastic eggs or even a golf ball) to entice their hens to lay eggs in a particular nesting box.

Once in a while a hen will not want to leave her nesting house so you can clean it. If this is the case, you can try to use something to shoo the hen out, but be careful she does not trample on any of the young chickens. The other thing you can do is wait until the hen leaves to defecate or eat; then close off the nesting area while you clean it.

As mentioned earlier, a clean hen house is necessary to keep away pests. If you have chickens, it is very necessary to for you to clean your chicken house regularly to minimize Red Mites. You will know if your chickens are infested with red mites because egg production will drop and the chickens will peck at each other in an attempt to get the mites. Keep a close watch for this type of pecking, or watch your chickens for any bald patches or bloody patches.

Clean for Red Mites

The red or "chicken mites" can live from as few as 5 days up to 2 weeks. This short cycle allows for fast growth and heavy infestations. They can live in the chicken house just as well as on the chickens themselves. That's why you must clean your chicken house and treat your chickens as well.

Keeping your chicken house and chickens clean is the best treatment, which is preventing the mites in the first place. If you do get an infestation, there are a number of insecticides available to minimize and eliminate external parasites. One very effective pest controls is "permethrin." Permethrin does have a long residual time in which it is effective, and that makes it a primary insecticide for treating your chicken house, surrounding areas like the chicken run and even your equipment. You can even apply a smaller concentrated version of permethrin directly on the hens or roosters.

Some other cures you may use to treat mites or even lice would be the use of wood ashes and diatomaceous earth (or DE). This is considered a non-chemical treatment that smothers the mites. There are newer products, such as Poultry Protector, which are a natural enzyme treatment.

The cleaning of your chicken house can be made tremendously easier if it is built right into your chicken house plans. For example, having a hinged door over the nesting boxes allows for quick collection of eggs, but it also allows for quick and easy cleaning of the nesting box area. Likewise, a well designed chicken house will have easy access areas to clean the coop flooring, the perches, the ramp and any chicken run or play area.

Cleaning your chicken house does not have to be a difficult chore, and in fact, it can be a quick, easy time that can involve the entire family. Children love to play with the chickens while the hen house is being cleaned, and with the best chicken house plans, you'll have the chicken house clean with minimum effort. Cleanliness may be next to Godliness, but when it comes to your chicken house, it just means happy, healthy chickens and a good production of fresh eggs.

By: Syd Hoover
Syd is a chicken enthusiast, who with his family, raises chickens in an urban environment for family pleasure and fresh eggs. If you are interested, you can get more information here on building chicken coops. You can get more information on chicken house designs that are easy to build and easy to clean at http://www.Chicken-House--Plans.com.

How to Build a Chicken Coop - Build the Perfect Chicken Coop With DIY Building Plans! By Jim Knight

Why spend a fortune to buy a ready made chicken coop, when you can build your own in at least half the price and only in a couple of days?

Constructing your own hen house can have many benefits:

• It can be a very rewarding experience for you and your whole family and you can have a lot of fun in the process.
• You can save a lot of money because you won't be paying for expensive prebuilt coops.
• Your chickens will be in a relaxed environment and this way they will lay more eggs.
• Your flock will be protected from bad weather and from predators.

In order to ensure the safety of your flock, you will need to pick the location of the hen house very carefully.

It's important to choose a high area that faces the sun to allow the coop to dry quickly every time it rains. Another thing you should consider is ventilation. You need a proper ventilation system that will provide your birds with fresh oxygen. Also make sure you insulate the walls to keep your chickens warm at night or during the winter. Cleaning your hen house should be as easy as possible, so you need to make sure that it's properly constructed.

Some of the materials you are going to need:

Any kind of box to make the nesting boxes, corrugated iron to build the nesting area's wall and just a few household tools, such as handsows, hammers and screwdrivers. If you have more than 10 chickens then you should make a large, sized premium coop, but if you own 1-3 then you should make a small portable one.

It will only take you a few hours to finish it and it can be a fun DIY weekend project for you and all your family members.

Following the step-by-step instructions of a reliable manual can be very helpful. Most diy designs are of a low quality, so finding some easy-to-follow and effective plans is extremely important.

Click Here to see the exact Chicken Coop Building Plans we have used to build our own chicken coop, which have helped us get better eggs and keep our chickens safe!

Portable Chicken Coops - Benefits to Build Coop That is Portable By Bill Wellman

You can learn how to build coop by yourself. It is easier to build an A frame chicken coop which is portable enough to move around your backyard. You get to enjoy a supply of fresh eggs but you have to provide your chickens with a comfortable home to live.

You can easily transfer a portable coop for your chickens from one place to another with the benefit of fertilizing your yard. Your chicken will also enjoy a feast of eating weeds, bugs and other insects at different places where you move the coop around in your backyard.

A portable chicken coop will provide you easy access when collecting eggs and you can take it where you can easily keep an eye on your chicken against common dangers from predators around. Portable coops are also great for children where they can easily feed the chicken and hunt for their eggs. You can simply build a coop with an average size to keep a few chickens when you are just starting to raise them.

Because the chickens are prone to become prey to predators like foxes, rodents and domestic animals, you must ensure to build a chicken coop that is sturdy enough with wires on the floor to keep the animals from digging the ground to find their way to your chicken. You must secure the portable chicken coop with locks to keep the chicken from coming out of their home at night.

Chicken are happier if they are provided with a place to roam around and setting them off in your backyard will let them enjoy this form of freedom. Make sure to have a secure fence on your backyard to keep the chicken safe when you free them from their portable home during the day. You can set the chicken free on the backyard to hunt for worms, weeds, and insects but make sure to clip their flight feathers to keep them from flying away.

A portable coop will allow you to enjoy moving the chicken coop around the backyard where they can get fresh air or place it under a shade of a tree on a hot summer day. Children will also be able to have an easy access to the chicken to feed and play with them.

Portable coop for your chickens is best for those who are just beginning to learn how to raise chickens. It is inexpensive and typically of small to medium size. Before you jump to build a coop instantly, you need to know about the local regulations and requirements for keeping chicken in your backyard.

You also must take into consideration several things prior to building a portable chicken coop in your backyard. Providing the chicken with comfort is important. The portable chicken coop must also adhere to the usual requirements needed to provide a decent home for your chicken such as building with appropriate dimension according to the number of chickens you will raise.

Most importantly, the portable chicken coop must provide the chicken with a safe and clean shelter that is conducive for nesting eggs. It helps to make a plan and determine the designs before you build coop in your backyard to ensure you get appropriate dimensions for a portable chicken coop to raise and take care of your chicken.

Did you find those tips on portable chicken coops useful? You can learn a lot more about Building A Chicken Coop On Your Own Here at http://www.buildingachickencoops.com