Chicken House

Are you interested in building a chicken house? If so there are a few things you need to think about before picking up a hammer. Consider whether you will be raising your chickens as pets or whether they will be used for resell of eggs and chicken meat.

If you will be raising chickens to produce eggs and chicken meat, then you will most likely need a chicken house that will meet certain standards in order to resell your products. Raising chickens as pets is much less complicated. All you need to do is check with your city or county to determine whether there are any restrictions on being a backyard chicken farmer.

Find Out More About Building Your Own Chicken House Here!

A chicken house for a backyard chicken farmer is easy to build. Once you find the plans or design your own house you can begin locating all the materials needed to begin construction. Materials for building a chicken coop are usually different sizes of lumber and plywood, chicken wire, cement blocks, roofing shingles, siding, insulation, PVC pipes, vents, windows and various types of fasteners.

Framing the chicken coop is the first step, adding insulation, siding and roofing materials would be next, much like building a shed or other outside building. Next you will need to add vents, windows and doors that open inwardly. The vents and windows are needed to maintain fresh air circulating for the chickens.

A chicken run is the outside surrounding area around the main chicken house. Chicken wire is used to keep chickens in and predators out. It is best to bury the chicken wire at least six inches into the ground to prevent dogs or other animals from digging their way into the chicken run. This area provides a place for the chickens to freely walk around outside. This area should have adequate shade so the chickens will not get over heated but also have some sunshine with is important for their health.

You can build nesting boxes and roosts for your chickens or you can use plastic tubs that are anchored into the floor of the chicken house. Whatever you use for the actual nesting box make sure it is filled with straw, hay or wood shavings. This is where the chickens rest and sleep during the night. So it has to be comfortable. Nesting boxes are normally where the chickens lay their eggs. So a soft area for the eggs to land is necessary so the eggs do not break or crack. If an egg does crack or break it must be removed and cleaned up immediately. This will help reduce the spread of disease for rotten or decaying matter.

The floor of your chicken house should be either chicken wire so the chicken droppings can fall to the ground or a disposal area, or covered with litter consisting of wood shavings or other litter products. It is extremely important to keep the floor of your chicken coop clean. It is best to have the coop raised off the ground to deter predators, keep the chickens dry and make clean up using chicken wire for the floor easier. Cement blocks are a good choice for raising a coop. Other options would be to build the coop on top of thick posts made from pressure treated lumber so they do not decay quickly.

Whatever chicken house you build always keep the safety and health of your chickens in mind. If you do you will enjoy being a backyard chicken farmer and you will have the added bonus of fresh eggs directly from your backyard.