How to Build a Chicken Coop

Thinking of building your own chicken coop? We did it in a little over a weekend, but it took three adult men, 2 helpers, a lot of steel roofing and timber, 1/2 box of nails, even more screws and (thankfully) some great weather while we were building.

I might as well tell you up front that the finished building was not a shed style, portable chicken coop. The building is actually a 20 by 12 foot building with a hip roof, a few skylights, and a finished height of 15 feet. You won’t need to go overboard like I did if you are thinking of raising just a few chickens for your family’s year round egg supply. In that case you’ll only need a portable chicken coop that can house 4 to 6 hens, has a built in run and can be moved about the yard easily and regularly.

Either way, if you’re here to discover how to build a chicken coop you’ll find links to plans, some common sense tips and a few articles in the chickens section of GoodByeCityLife.com.

Why Build A Chicken Coop?

Chickens need a warm place to live year round. They need a place where their natural enemies can’t break in and carry them or their young away into the night. They need shelter when the weather takes a nasty turn. You’ll want to make sure you build a snug coop as drafty ones are harmful for chickens.

If you’re planning on keeping as many chickens as I do (I also raise turkeys during the summer months), begin by scouting out the place where you want to build a chicken coop. Beginners often decide to build a coop without checking out the ground saturation before hand. If the area has a tendency to pool water, it’s a bad location to put up a coop. How to Build a Chicken Coop

Key Factors on Chicken Coop Designs

Chickens have to have a dry space. You’ll need a level area for the coop, but never build one directly on the ground – raise it off the ground by at least 10″ by posts or concrete blocks. Have you ever had a skunk or rodent get into an outside building or shed? These same predators will easily get inside chicken coops that are built flat on the ground no matter how much chicken fencing you put up around the coop.

Predators don’t just arrive on the ground either. Hawks and other large birds will snatch smaller chickens and take off with them. When the chickens are outside of the coop, they need to be protected from these kinds of predators as well.

Humidity inside a coop isn’t healthy for chickens. You’ll want to make sure you have some type of opening for air to stir through. Some chicken owners use a simple vent, while other chicken owners put in a screened window that will open.

Those who take shortcuts carve a small hole in the plywood and nail a screen over that, but this isn’t a good idea. The ventilation opening needs to be one that can be closed in the event of bad weather or built in such a way that rainwater and heavy drafts can’t get inside the structure.

Inside the Chicken Coop

Since chickens can’t fly as well as other birds, make sure you don’t place the perches too high off the floor where they can get hurt if they have a fall. Perches shouldn’t be built any higher than three to four feet off the floor.

Nesting boxes should be built lower than the perches (to prevent them from becoming the place the chickens prefer to sleep) and should be deep enough to make the chicken feel comfortable.

When constructing nesting boxes, make sure to slant the top of it because chickens love to roost on the flat surface of the boxes. The reason for the slanted top is because if chickens roost on the top, as they do their business, you’ll end up with quite an accumulation of droppings to constantly clean off.

Give the front of the nesting box a ledge so that the chicken can balance there when getting in and out of the nest. Follow these instructions and you’ll have built a chicken coop that lasts.

Great Ideas and Resources on Building A Coop

I’ve been keeping chickens for over 15 years and have built a number of coops as well as refashioned existing structures to house them. One of my banty hens spent a summer living in a protected dog house with her 12 chicks (her choice) so you can imagine how easy it is for a hen to be satisfied with a portable chicken coop – even a modified dog house!

At right you’ll find a link to one of my favorite portable chicken coops which can be constructed in under an hour, looks great and is perfect for 4-6 hens. You’ll also find links to chicken coop plans (if you’re serious about building a chicken coop) and more articles on raising chickens at right and below.