subject: A Few Important Things To Think About When Designing A Simple Chicken Coop [print this page] A Few Important Things To Think About When Designing A Simple Chicken Coop
There are an abundance of chicken coop designs available on the internet. Many are free and others will cost you a small fee. Everyone will prefer free chicken coop plans, particularly if you are just starting up and only want a basic chicken coop design. If you can find a coop design to suit your needs with step by step instructions that detail all the materials and tools you will need to build with then that is ideal.Do make sure before you start, that you have all the information you require. I have known a lot of people who have got into a bit of a mess using free designs only to find, halfway through construction, that they were incomplete or unclear. So if possible get recommendations from friends or other chicken keepers to ensure you won't go wrong.Building your own backyard chicken coop is of course a much more cost effective route than buying a pre-built one - where is the fun in that? For a start, you will have a much greater sense of achievement if you construct your own and it will also force you to consider what you really need from your coop. It is all too easy to go over the top with ready- made coops that have all the bells and whistles that may not be necessary at this point in your chicken keeping career.If you want to keep costs to a minimum you could consider building your coop from scrap lumber. This is a great way to really keep costs down, although you will have to be prepared to tidy it up a bit and make sure that it is free from nails etc.Don't forget that when you use recycled lumber it will not look as good as new lumber and your neighbours may have a problem with it if they can view it from their windows. There are some important things that you will need to consider when you are choosing the right coop design for your flock - be that 2 chickens or 22. If you are a new starter then you will need to familiarise yourself with the different types of chicken feeders, nesting boxes, roosts and water containers to name but a few essentials. If you have not kept chickens before then it might be wise to invest in a simple book on how to care for chickens. Again, all this information is available for free on the internet but there are also some very inexpensive books that will lay out all the facts for you in simple terms. There are many aspects to think about when designing a simple chicken coop - however this is one mistake that is made by newbies and you will want to avoid it if possible. To ensure that it is easy to clean out, build the floor of the coop so that it slopes downwards at a slight angle. In this way all of the mess runs out onto the ground when you hose it down. Most good chicken coop designs will incorporate this - but it is useful to know if you are going to go it alone.
