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 $40, 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:

1. 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.
2. The coop area needs to be in an area of the yard that drains well and stays dry.
3. The coop should be well ventilated to prevent respiratory disease.
4. Consider slanting the roof so it can send rainwater down into a barrel that provides drinking water for the chickens.
5. 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.

Technorati Tags: Chicken House Plans

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!

Technorati Tags: Blueprint, Chicken Coop Plans, Chicken Coops, chicken-coop-designs, Design Possibilities, Different Tastes, Eggs, Fertilizer, Free Chicken Coop Plans, Google, High Quality, Hobbies, Illustrations, Keeping Chickens, Life Habits, Pets, Quality Chicken, Raising Chickens, Video Tutorials, Yahoo

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

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.

Technorati Tags: Chicken House Plans, mobile chicken coop, mobile chicken coops

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!

Technorati Tags: 3D tour, building a chicken coop, Chicken House Plans, virtual chicken coop

- Jean

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.

If you’re looking to build a chicken coop, you must prepare yourself, as with anything.  Not gaining the necessary knowledge up front, will likey cause you to be dissatisfied down the road with the chicken house you’ve built.  This stress could cause you to rebuild, or worse, abandon your chicken raising dreams.

Avoid these chicken house errors up front and you and your chickens will be much happier.

Error #1 – Not Having a Physical Chicken House Plan – Make sure you have a paper drawing of the chicken house.  This will alleviate any guessing on your part because everything from building materials and dimensions should be spelled out exactly.  If you’d like to see a great example of chicken house plans, click here.

Error #2 – Forgetting Insulation - Chickens don’t like cold weather.  They can become uncomfortable or worse, sick.  This will affecting the eggs that they lay so make sure the chicken house is properly insulated.  Even if you live in a warm climate, basic insulation will still be needed.

Error #3 – Not Putting the Water and Feeders in the Correct Place - While a small chicken house might not pose too much of an issue, a larger chicken house should have their water and feeders centrally located.  You might want to consider multiple feeders so none of your chickens gets crowded out.  Finally, make sure they are at the correct height.  Typically, right around their back level will work best.

Error #4 – Forgetting a Light Source - Make sure to incorporate at least one window into the chicken house.  This is an excellent source of natural light and will be cheaper than running electricilty into the chicken house.  Windows will also increase the ventilation as well.

Making sure to avoid these costly errors will insure a better built chicken house.  Failure to consider them now can and will cost more later.

Technorati Tags: buliding chicken coops, Chicken House Plans