Chicken Coop Design Ideas
Article by Dean James
Are you thinking about keeping chickens? In that case, you’ll be glad to hear there are a lot of different types of chicken coops designs out there in the marketplace. Now these designs range from fancy to basic ones made with simple hand tools and materials. No matter whether you go for a large fancy design or a simple coop construction, you will want to strongly consider the points I talk about below. Deciding on backyard chicken coop designs is going to be considerably easier as soon as you have read through this.
Plan ahead
Putting together a chicken coop costs hard-earned money so it’s important to sit down and plan your project in advance. You may want to start out with just two or three chickens for fresh eggs and expand your flock of chickens later on. You will find it is prudent to build-in this option for growth right from the outset so you do not have to put together an even bigger coop in the future.
Allow each chicken ample breathing space
When considering chicken coops designs, be sure that you choose one that will give your chickens lots of space. Do not put excessive numbers of chickens in the coop as this may make them unwell and cause unwarranted levels of stress. A flock of chickens which have room to breathe will do much better overall and give you a greater financial return per chicken. Each chicken requires roughly four square foot of room overall. Now if your flock do not have access to a run to move around in, then you should allocate no less than double the square footage per chicken.
Ensure the ventilation is adequate
All living creatures need fresh air and good ventilation to thrive and stay healthy. When you are browsing chicken coops designs, bear in mind that the design should incorporate ample ventilation. That being said, you do not want your chicken coop to be drafty, as that could be fatal for your birds. If the ventilation level isn’t sufficient it can result in air impurities which often make your chickens sick. A good coop construction will have vents that ensure air gets around the construction whilst also not subjecting your chickens to extremely cold drafts. Stop predators in their tracks with wire meshing around the vents to prevent harm to your flock of chickens.
Keep the rain out
Rain seriously isn’t a great thing for your chickens, so when you are choosing chicken coops designs, select one that protects it from this. Assuming that the health of your flock of chickens is important to you, ensure you follow this advice.
Use top quality meshing to keep rodents out of the coop
Rats and other rodents will infest your chicken coop unless you take appropriate measures to keep them out. Since they like to burrow, you’ll want to make sure that they can’t get into the coop from the ground. These critters are persistent and think absolutely nothing of chewng away wood and even chicken wire.
In the event that you are considering choosing chicken coops designs which have no floor, you will want to put fencing in place that has top grade meshing which contains really small holes in it. Install no less than twelve inches of this fencing right into the ground and ensure it goes round the edge of the coop. This will stop animals from digging their way in. Installing a cement or tile floor is also a very good option to keep your chickens safe.
Ensuring the coop protects against natural predators
Even though you may currently not have any problem with coyotes, raccoons, hawks or other types of predatory animals, that can suddenly change once you own chickens. This is true even if you reside in town, so do not presuppose all chicken coops designs will keep your chickens protected, or you will likely be sorry later on.
It’s also imperative that you note that ordinary chicken wire has big holes, so do not depend on this alone to keep your chickens out of harms way. Good quality mesh wire can be firmly attached to the wood all the way around the chicken house. Setting up lights with movement detectors around the chicken coop will help keep night-time predators away.
Picking out the very best chicken coop designs can seem like a daunting task initially. With everything said, by being attentive to the recommendations here, you will most certainly finish up with a fabulous chicken coop that takes excellent care of your flock of chickens.
About the Author
Learn exactly how you can construct a chicken coop quickly with simple tools and cheap materials by visiting How to Build a Chicken Coop in 3 Days at http://www.diybuildchickencoop.com