Choosing a chicken coop design to build because I moved into a new place last season. I am ready to expand the operation in to egg production. Not for commercial reasons. I just want to have chickens and collect my own eggs, again. I did this once before, at the former house. That’s the door of it in the above picture. Although it was a good trial run, I think. We ended up having to retreat from that experiment the first year due to thinking that we had all roosters. Roosters are not allowed in the local urban chicken regulations. We were going to try again the next year, but other circumstances prevailed and then we moved. So, here I am again, looking to build a chicken coop. Taking the lessons I learned from the first build, and some ideas from the internet.
Things to consider when choosing a chicken coop design:
So, now that I have decided to build a coop and get chickens again. I have to decide what the coop will look like. The last place had limited space so the options were less. I had one place to put the chickens, so the coop had to fit in the space. Here there is slightly more room, so I have slightly more options. Here is what I have come up with for considerations.
Cold weather. Though chickens can withstand very cold weather. Southern Alberta can test the strength of even the toughest beasts in December and January, so I need the hen house to at least be insulated.
Size of flock. I think I will still stick to 3 hens to start. Keeping chickens in my little community may still be a bit of a grey area for allowances, so lets start small. I can always add a few birds later if this goes well.
Predators. Though I would like to be able to move the coop. I still need it to be secured. Wire mesh at least for the walls. I am not sure what to do about things burrowing underneath the coop itself, but I like the idea of the hen house being elevated off the ground.
Ability to clean. With the hen house being elevated, cleaning it will be easier. Being able to open one side completely would be good also.
Collecting eggs. I like the idea of having the nesting boxes set kind of outside the main hen house structure. If that makes sense. So I can flip up the roof on the hen house and collect the eggs without opening up the whole side of the hen house. Especially on the colder days.
Feed and water. I have seen some ideas of “self-contained” systems where you just have to fill up a larger container on the outside and then it regulates how the food and water are distributed. I may look at something like those. The ones I saw were not crazy elaborate. They reminded me of how we used to feed our pet rabbit when I was a kid.
Portability. I don’t pan on making a “chicken tractor”, in that I don’t plan on moving this thing around all the time. However, I did think that I would place it by the west fence in the summer, so that it could get some shade in the afternoon. Then, in the fall after the harvest, I would move it out to the main garden area for the winter. They would get more of the sun. So I don’t want it to be too heavy. Wheels maybe. But I could rig something up later to move it. Even if we can drag it would probably be fine. I have steel rods for screeding sand. Worst case scenario, we move it like the Romans.
Buildable. This kind of goes without saying, but I have to be able to build it. I am not an architect, not a house builder. It has to be pretty simple. Luckily from what I can gather, chickens are not that fussy about their accommodations. Ventilation, not drafts basically.
Longevity. Again, it might go without saying. But I only want to build this once. It has to last. So I am going to build it to last.
Cost to build. As usual, my budget for this job is zero. By taking up the garden beds that were installed by the previous owners and creating one big garden, I am hoping to have enough lumber to build this. I may have to acquire a couple things, but I have so much building materials of one kind or another, I am hoping to “Frankenstein” something together that will work. It most likely, will be more art piece than anything else, but I am okay with that.
Choosing a Chicken Coop Design – What it needs.
Some things are merely desires. It would be great if I could move it, but it doesn’t HAVE to be able to be moved. I would like to build it myself and it last for eternity. But, if the neighbour comes over in 2 weeks and gives me an old one and it lasts for 10 years, until I move out. I’m okay with that also. There are some things that need to be included in the build.
Door for collecting eggs. It doesn’t need to be a traditional door. It could be more of a roof. I just need some way of gaining access to the nesting boxes without having to crawl into the henhouse itself or disturbing the chickens too much. I don’t want to have to open the whole thing up to the outside elements to collect the eggs.
Door to access the inside area to clean. I will need to eventually and regularly get into the coop and henhouse to clean it. If I can do both those things without having to crawl around on my knees, that would be ideal. If I can open up one whole side of the henhouse that would be best. Also, if I can get into the coop area while standing up, that would be ideal.
Roosting space inside and outside. From what I have learned, there should be a roosting are for each bird. Contrary to what the cartoons of my youth have suggested, chickens don’t always want to share. So both inside the coop area and the henhouse needs to be a roosting area for each bird. Since I plan to get 3 birds, that means 6 roosts all together. 3 in the coop and 3 in the hen house. I guess it makes them feel safer also.
Nesting boxes. I don’t believe they each need their own nesting box. But, since there is only going to be 3 birds, I don’t think 3 boxes will be that much of a task.
Ventilation. I also learned there is a difference between ventilation and drafts. Ventilation good. Drafts bad. I need to make sure there is proper ventilation in the henhouse. No problem.
Outdoor protected area. This is actually what we know as the “coop”. The outside area where the chickens can just be chickens, but is protected from other animals that would like to eat them.
Options
There are a couple of things that would be nice to have when choosing a chicken coop design, but I don’t think they are necessarily necessary.
Storage space. Many of the deigns I have seen include some sort of storage space. For food and bedding mainly. I have an area in the house that I could use for storage of that kind of stuff. If I store the food and bedding in the storage area of the house, the chicken coop and henhouse don’t need to be as big. Also, I feel like keeping the food in the henhouse would make it more tempting for predators. I don’t know, but I think I’ll skip the storage in the hen house. Give the chickens more room and maybe still have it portable.
Wheels. Speaking of portability. I saw a few designs that incorporated wheels for movability and I like them. However, I don’t have any wheels at this point, so I may skip wheels for now. I can always add wheels later if I come into wheels. I do have other ways to move the coop. I’m not building a chicken tractor that will be moved all the time. Just a couple of times per year. I can rig something up for now.
Choosing a Chicken Coop Design – Idea Time
I have collected a few pictures of coops that I think will work. What will end up happening is that I will take some aspects from each of these. I’ll add some other ideas in my head and build a unique coop. I just took these pics off the internet, so I thank the builders for allowing others to see their coops. I will do the same once it done.
What I Have To Work With
In an attempt to keep this build a cheap as possible I am going to go through all of y building supplies….piles. Lets just call them piles. That is what they are. A few neat and unorganized piles of building supplies. I plan to use up as much of them as I can with this build. To keep the cost at a minimum. The lumber shouldn’t be a problem. I have a bunch of lumber and I can always find pallets if I need some more. I also have some roofing material, but I may need to get some of that. Though I am not sure yet. I should have all the hardware I need. Hinges and screws and the like. I will have to get some metal fabric for the sides of the coop. I know I don’t have enough of that stuff.
The cost won’t be zero, but I hope it won’t be much. Since I don’t plan of selling the eggs, the profit from this adventure will come from the savings of the eggs. Since I have to fed the chickens to get the eggs. This may all be a net loss adventure for a while. All the more reason to keep the cost of the coop and hen house build to as little as possible.
This Begs The Question
Why do this at all? I can get relatively fresh, local eggs from the Hutterite Brethren. They are not even that expensive. So why go through all this trouble for chickens?