Archive for the ‘Chicken House Plans’ Category
Of all of the animals that people can raise as pets, chickens are unique. Not only do you get a bird with a unique personality, you get fresh eggs too! Raising chickens contributes to your environmental care, by eating all types of garden pests and grass. They like your leftovers too but beware of garlic and onions, as they tend to make the eggs produced have a unique taste. Chickens are low maintenance pets as well and when you use good chicken house plans for their home, they will require very little.
If you are wondering if raising backyard chickens is for you, there are several considerations to be evaluated first:
Do you have the time? – While they only require less than a half hour a day in maintenance, this can be a deal breaker for some people.
Do you have the space? – When you’re building their chicken coop, it’s highly recommended that you have at least 6 square feet per bird, and the more, the better. Chickens are flock animals so it is also recommended to start out with at least three.
Are chickens allowed in your neighborhood? – You might live in a subdivision or town that has covenants against keeping chickens. Make sure you do your homework before investing any time or money.
Which chicken breed do I chose? – It really depends on the climate that you live in. There are chicken breeds like Langshans that are better suited for cold weather and Blue Andalusians that are hot weather suited. Do some research and find out what breed will work best for your region and your family.
So now you’ve decided that raising chickens is something you’d like to pursue. Now comes the fun part, building a chicken coop. All you need is basic carpentry skills and a good set of chicken house plans. While there are lots of free plans available on the Internet, you get what you pay for; so don’t scrimp on this step. For under $30, you will have an invaluable resource and one of the best can be found here.
Here are some final tips to consider before building the coop:
- The coop should be built in a spot that gets both shade and sun. Chickens get their Vitamin D from the sun so they plenty of access to it.
- The coop area needs to be in an area of the yard that drains well and stays dry.
- The coop should be well ventilated to prevent respiratory disease.
- Consider slanting the roof so it can send rainwater down into a barrel that provides drinking water for the chickens.
- It must be predator proof – use 15mm square wire mesh.
With chicken house plans in hand, in as little as a weekend or two, you can have your coop built and ready go. Building a backyard chicken coop will be one of the best investments you’ll ever make.
For anyone who loves the idea of farming chickens but doesn’t have a clue where to begin, Mary Nelson has put together a series of guides designed to take you from complete beginner to expert. She has aptly called it Chicken DIY Guides and it has become a best selling e-series.
Truth be told, most people that love the idea of raising chickens don’t get around to doing so because they don’t have a clue where to start.
Mary Nelson has written her Chicken DIY Guides with everyone in mind, from the person just starting out to the those with a bit of knowledge who wants to look at the next phase through either rearing more hens or breeding their own chickens. These step by step guides take you through all the details that you need to successfully farm chickens, from a fantastic selection of chicken coop plans to a video library showing you how to care for your chooks to a special guide all about the things that you need to sort out before you even start.
So What Do You Get In Chicken DIY Guides?
There are eight guides in total that will take you from beginner to expert in no time and the video tutorials along with extra support are well worth checking out.
Guide 1 – Chicken Coop Plans
There is a huge selection of plans available in 4 categories; small, medium, large and portable. These plans are practical and thorough and very easy to set up. The great bonus is that they are also customizable so they really will suit every chicken farmer out there and every level of handyman; from those who are a dab hand with a hammer and like to get creative, to those with no handyman skills at all.
Where Chicken DIY Guides excels is that it recognizes that there is so much more to raising chickens than just building a great coop. You also have to know how to look after your girls to get the best from them. This is where Mary and her team at Chicken DIY Guides have gone the extra mile with seven other essential guides included in the price.
Guide 2 – A Video Series;
Learn how to care for your flock, from building those all important coop accessories to caring for your chooks over winter and special feeding tips. Check out the great video on chicken feeding tips, it has some eye opening ideas.
Guide 3 – Your A-Z Dictionary
Raising chickens does come with a whole new set of terms and lingo, this will give you a great head start.
Guide 4 – Breeds;
Different breeds like different climates and have different uses, so make sure that you are raising the right chickens for your area and lifestyle.
Guide 5 – Your Guide to Incubating;
How to build an incubator and use it.
Guide 6 – Brooding;
Your complete guide to brooding chickens.
Guide 7 – Preparation;
There are so many things that you need to take into consideration before you even get started with your coop.
Guide 8 – The Council Ordinances Guide;
This guide actually takes you through the council regulations for most major cities regarding keeping chickens. Just knowing and following these can save you hundreds of dollars in fines.
Is Chicken DIY Guides value for money?
Chicken DIY Guides costs a little under $40 – at the time of writing. Building your coop using the plans provided should cost around $100 – most will cost far less. Compared to buying a new pre-fab coop for your chickens ($300+) and then learning by trial and error how to keep your flock healthy, happy and laying, this is fantastic value.
Just to prove the point even further, Chicken DIY Guides also comes with a 100% monet back guarantee – no questions asked.
Whichever way you look at it Chicken DIY Guides is definitely value for money and I haven’t found any other system that even comes close for quality, practicality and value.
To download your copy of Mary Nelson’s Chicken DIY Guides and start down the road to a greener and cheaper lifestyle go to www.henhouseplansonline.com
We all love eggs. They’re wonderful to eat, nutritious and make a great omelette. And we all love pets. So why not satisfy your roots for pets and for eggs by keeping chickens, and eat omelette every day?
As all kids love pets they will also love chickens. I have chickens and I have kids and the kids are delighted with their chickens. They feed them and pat them and give them names. Chickens are cheap to feed, and if you let them out in the garden during the day they’ll eat those pesky bugs that are feasting on your flowers. They are also relatively easy to keep and don’t make lots of noise as long as you don’t get a rooster.
But before you decide that keeping chickens is a great idea and jump in the car to go by some you need to think a little bit about a goodchicken coop , because you will need a chicken coop to house your chickens.
Of course you need to decide how many chickens you are going to have in your chicken coop. 3 or 4 hens is really quite sufficient to the average household, and if you are keeping this number than a simple portable chicken house that can move around the garden is quite sufficient.
There is also another thing that you need to consider before keeping chickens, and that is whether there are any regulations governing the keeping of chickens at your home, or about thechicken house that you are allowed to have.
The fastest and possibly the cheapest way to get a chicken coop is to build it, provided you’re familiar with the right end of a hammer and you’ve got a few nails. It’s not that difficult, you need some treated timber, some chicken wire and a few bits and pieces and you can have a chicken coop built in an afternoon.
Although not essential it helps to provide an enclosed area for the hens to nest. This is where the eggs will be laid.
At night chickens like to perch to sleep and therefore you need some perching bars off the floor of the coop.
There is a simple A-frame design that is easy to build and quite adequate for 3 or 4 chickens. Run rods from one side of the chicken coop to the other for the chickens to roost on at night and put some cover over this area so they are not roosting in the rain.
If you put handles on one end and wheels on the other it is then easy to move around the garden, and you move it every few days to fertilise different areas of the lawn.
During the day you can open the door of the henhouse to allow your chickens to free range around the garden eating the bugs that eat your flowers. But make sure all chickens are returned to the coop at night, with the door closed, or foxes will get your chickens.
Kids just love having chickens, as well as the eggs. But before you get started on your new hobby of keeping chickens decide how many you wish to have, and buy or build a a good quality chicken coop to house them in and you’re well on your way to a fridge full of eggs.
All you have to do is get stuck into a simple handyman job building your chicken coop or buy a good one and then you can be comfortable knowing that you always have a fridge full of eggs.
Every one of us has different tastes in life. Habits and hobbies also differ with individuals. There are many of us who love pets and some of us don’t even stand near them. There are people who love raising chickens, and keeping chickens can indeed be an exciting experience. They are fun to watch, you get meat, eggs and also the fertilizer for the garden.
Of course chicken need a coop and a lot of people choose to build one on their own, to save money. There are a lot of places where you can find free chicken coop plans. However you have to be aware, that free does not always mean that the plans are of good quality. This is why free chicken coop plans are not recommended
The first and best place to search for chicken coop plans is on the internet. This is perhaps the easiest way because all you need is to do is a quick search on Google or Yahoo. There are some basic plans that are simple to build.
The good news is that there are chicken coop designs that will turn out to be safe and attractive and very low cost. Oftentimes materials which are needed to build very low cost chicken coops are hard to find. Also the design possibilities for extremely low cost chicken coops are limited. If you have a chicken coop in mind, it might be hard to find a plan for it. I recommend spending some more dollars to get a superb, easy to follow, high quality chicken coop blueprint. I am sure you won’t regret it, because it will save you a lot of time. Compared to free chicken coop plans, paid plans are a lot easier to follow and in a lot of cases they even come with easy to follow step by step video tutorials.
Most of the good chicken coop blueprints come not only with video tutorials but also with great illustrations which makes the building process extremely easy. The internet is filled with thousands of coop plans that you can try. Go ahead! You could be starting building your chicken coop hours from now!
Hi Everyone,
Just found a great new site that you can use for additional info on everything Chicken!
You can find it here: http://www.backyardchickencoopdesigns.com
Enjoy!
- Jean
More and more people are starting to turn towards using mobile chicken coops rather than building larger ones that are stationed in one place. There are many benefits to using a mobile chicken coop, so going this route does become appealing to many individuals.
There are some things you need to know first though before going ahead with mobile chicken coops because if you don’t, you may find that this particular variation wasn’t exactly the best choice for you.
Here are some of the pros and cons to a mobile chicken coop.
Easier To Clean
One of the biggest benefits to a mobile chicken coop is the fact that they are easy to clean. Since you can just transport the coop closer to your house, this makes it an ideal situation for those who have limited cleaning facilities.
If you prefer, you can move the mobile chicken coop to the cement garage and then use a hose to wash it down if necessary.
Cheaper To Build
Another big benefit to a mobile chicken coop is the fact that it’s cheaper to build. As these coops are generally smaller you can often use materials that you already have around the house. If not, there’s a good chance that a neighbor will have some of the stuff you need, further making it easy to build a cheap chicken coop if necessary.
Decreased Feeding Time Commitment
Moving on, another nice thing about mobile chicken coops is they are much lower in terms of total time commitment to feeding. Again, since you can simply just move the coop closer to your house, this makes it ideal for feeding your chickens.
If you constantly have to walk out a ways to get to your coop to provide food, that will really become a chore day after day. Most people really appreciate this aspect of mobile chicken coops, so it’s definitely something to consider.
Limited Coop Size
One thing that is important to remember about mobile chicken coops is that you will be slightly limited when it comes to their total size. Mobile chicken coops are not going to be able to house all that many chickens, so if you’re attempting to keep six or more, you may want to consider a larger, more permanent coop.
You could always also build a mobile coop to use on occasion for a few of your chickens, just don’t expect to keep a large number in it for a longer period of time.
Durability Factors
In most cases, mobile chicken coops will be relatively durable due to the fact that they need to be in order to sustain the constant movement. When they are not constructed properly however, then you might run into problems with their durability and find that you are repairing them more frequently than normal.
Always be sure the mobile chicken coop plan you are using is well laid out so you don’t run into this problem.
So, keep these factors in mind when thinking about building a mobile chicken coop. Many people really enjoy them, so if you decide it’s right for you, don’t hesitate to begin the hunt for a plan to get going.
Here is more information on how you can build a chicken house on a budget.
Hi Everyone,
I’ve got a treat today. Below you will find a video that gives you a 3D tour of the type of chicken coop you can build when you’ve got a great set of plans. There’s no audio but you’ll get a good idea of what you could build in the future.
Enjoy!
Enjoy this video that I put together that has some great tips on getting started building your first chicken coop.
- Jean
Hi everyone,
I am designing a chicken house and my plans are that I have roosting poles that are all on the same level, like if you took a ladder and laid it on its side. My question is, can I put two levels of this and put one above the other as long as I leave room for them to fly up there from the one below. Or would there be problems from some being above the others?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
MusicMan
many people have "stacked" roosting poles, One tip, situate upper poles a little behind the lower poles so birds on top don’t leave their droppings on the lower birds.
Hi,
I was considering buying some chickens, but I would prefer multiple different breeds of chickens, instead of a flock of the same breed, is it possible to do this? The chickens I was intending to buy would be one silkie, one light sussex, one buff orpington and one black cochin chicken. They would all be hens and egg quantity and quality doesnt bother me too much. Also I was planning on raising them all together from a young age. Thanks for all your help
No problem. The only thing you need to keep an eye on is when they are brand new day old chicks. The larger breed chicks can trample the smaller breed chicks. Once they are a week or so old, they’ll be fine.
