Chicken House Plans Made Easy

By: Mille

I love chickens, and I hope you will too.

You want to make sure you have a plan so that your chickens will be safe, healthy and prosperous. There are a number of reasons that families want to raise chickens, as many as there are people. For our family, we received a "present" of 12 baby chicks for Easter Sunday. My first impression was, "holy cow, where are all these chickens going to sleep???" On the other hand, I also remembered that saying "if life hands you lemons, make lemonade." (I promise, no more quotes).

Now I wasn't thinking of eating the chickens, but with the cost of fresh eggs going up, then the most reasonable thing to do was at least build a chicken house for the little chickadees. I was reveling in the thought about how fun it would be -- a family project to build a chicken house, and soon we would be enjoying our own organically fresh eggs. This was a one-time investment, if done right, it will pay in fresh eggs for years. :-) So when you are looking for the best Chicken House Plans, consider these following steps in your plan.

The first thing you need to plan is where you will locate your new chicken house. From this point, you will know what your limitations are. On e thing to keep in mind is a simple 4 foot by 8 foot box-type structure. This makes it easy on the materials sides because most plywood and other materials come in 4 x 8 foot sheets.

Second, you want to frame out a play area for the chicken house. You can accomplish this with nails or screws at the bottom of the four pieces. (I suggest using screws that are easy to drive with an electric screwdriver. This makes it easy to take apart if you ever want to move your chicken house: simply unscrew and move the wood parts!) With this done, then you can attach two corner sections, each consisting of two pieces to make the respective corner)

When this frame is done, you can enclose the play area with chicken wire. Once your chicken house frame is done, you can begin with the actual house. You really should install a chicken house door and determine its placement. It's been our experience that if you put the door closer to the nesting area rather than in the front, it works a little bit better for your other tasks down the road. How you attach the door is going to be determined by what kind of door you would like. We had a door that opened toward the back of the nesting area that had a long piano hinge across the top, and the door opened by pulling the door up (toward the sky). You can use an old broom handle or other pole to hold the door open so you can get to the eggs in the nesting area.

Installing the roof is probably the next best step at this point. Plywood is perfect for this because it comes in 4 x 8 foot sheets, but check with your local lumbar yard for other material options in your area. When the roof is done, you can go forward with the nesting part of the chicken house.

Here, the size is going to depend on the number of chickens you want to raise. A basic 4 foot by 8 foot chicken house is probably enough room to raise 10 chickens. For our nesting area, we made two support from 4 foot sections attached on both sides of our frame to support the nesting box. When the support structure is in place, you can place your basic nesting box (made from plywood) on top of the supports.

The nesting area usually goes near a back wall away frorm the front entrance (and near that door location for easy access to the eggs. In the front of your chicken house you want to cut an opening, much like the size of a small pet door, so that the chickens can access the chicken house play area.

When you're finished with your chicken house, make sure you sand all the rough edges and corners smooth and safely cut or bend all chicken wire out of the way from harm. You also want to double check that no sharp edges of the chicken wire protrude and are either removed or bent in such a way that they will not harm the chickens.

Ventilation and lighting are critical to your chicken's health and welfare. You will need some kind of sides or windows that can be closed, even with hinged plywood doors. That way you can open the doors in the daytime hours for light and ventilation, and they can be closed in the evening or when you need to protect the chickens from bad weathers.

When it comes to chicken house floors, you have some options. Most folks use sawdust, but some farms and others have access to hay or use straw. Some people even used sand as a bottom for their chicken coop. Check with your local feed store or veterinarian to see what is the best material for the weather conditions in your area.

Having a solid chicken house will provide your chickens with a safe, healthy environment where they can grow and prosper. Our family enjoyed watching the chickens grow, and they took pride in the eggs that were collected for our breakfast table. Enjoy your flock of chickens, and make sure you consider these steps in your Chicken House Plans.

Article Source: https://www.collectibles-articles.com

Millie has been raising chickens for too many years, but you can get more information at her site for Chicken House Plans.

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