Chicken Coop Kits and Plans

This is easier than it looks. You order, it is shipped, you set it up. Then all you need to do is add your backyard chickens!

The first step is to decide if you need a small, medium or large place for your chickens. How will you know what size to pick? The size you would want to build will depend on how many chickens the coop needs to house.

If you purchase a set of chicken coop plans, make sure the plans aren't the bare minimum. The ones I showcase above right are exceptional and come with tech support. Example: The small backyard coop plan (above right) has space for chickens to graze, lay eggs, roost at night and is easy to move around the yard so no one area becomes desolate. The top is hinged for easy egg collection as well.

The plans should cover all details, including the building of the chicken run. While chicken coops don't require a Harvard degree to build, it's not something you want to build by guesswork. To build a proper coop, you're going to have to have some plans.

For those who think that any old set of plans will do, you could end up with a chicken house that won't be suitable for use. The right kind of chicken plans will include height and width directions, where the ventilation should go, the best side of the coop to place the window if you want those and where and how to build perches and nesting boxes. All of that is part of building a coop.

Some plans show how to build a coop that looks like the letter A, while others show how to build a simple box structure. Some of the fancier plans show off coops built in the style of an old general store and some look like a miniature home complete with a porch and wall decorations hanging on the outside.

To know what plans you should get, you need to ask yourself the following questions: How much money can I afford to budget for this project? How many hens will I be keeping? Will I be building this myself or will I hire the job out? If you've never built a coop before, but want a fancier one or a custom built one, you might want to find an experienced coop builder.

Although 3-5 chickens may not sound like a lot, consider how many eggs per week your family eats before buying a large coop. Three chickens will, in their prime, produce nearly two dozen eggs per week. Five chickens produce nearly three dozen eggs per week.

This cute coop kit with an outdoor run is made from top quality dried fir (semi hardwood). It will not distort or rot and has been fully treated with bio friendly products.

Your chickens will enjoy:

• Large Entrance Door to Run Area.
  
• Non-slippery walkway down to the run area.
  
• Predator Proof.
  
• Fully Covered exercise run.

You will enjoy the:

• Sturdy Construction.
  
• Asphalt Roof.
  
• Easy assembly.
  
• Step-by-step illustrated instructions.
  
• Fair Price for easy setup of a quality coop kit.
• Click here for more information on this Chicken Coop

A picture says a thousand words on this coop as it is a true showpiece, but don't let its beauty fool you! This is a well thought out coop that happily holds 12-14 hens and can be painted in your choice of colors and trim work.

A few drawbacks to this coop is that:

• No outside run built on (you'll have to do that to be fair to your hens.
  
• Three times the price of the cute coop above making it nearly $1500 plus tax).
  
• Approximate 30 days to build and ship (if you want chickens right away, this just don't do).


• Click here to learn more about the Amish Built Deluxe Chicken Coop with Easy Egg Collection

Another small coop that you can move around your yard easily. The hens sleep and lay their eggs on the top floor! Great design as you'll have multiple access points on the upper portion to eggs and chickens.

Although this mini coop is called an 'ark' it could also be considered as a 'chicken tractor'. Notice that at the bottom of the roosting area two extended boards act as handles. These are used to easily move the portable coop around your yard. Although the task takes two people, An adult and a 9 year old could perform the task as the coop in itself isn't particularly heavy (approximately 60 pounds).

Read more about this Arc or Ark Chicken Coop - 3-5 hens

There is no one right way to build a chicken coop. Coops come in all sizes, shapes and styles. Some are plain with absolutely no frills at all while others seem to be a work of backyard art. The chicken above spends her evenings and rainy days in a converted dog house in the back yard garden.

Regardless of how you go about selecting among the thousands of chicken coop plans, kits and options for shelter, the great news is that most coops are not that costly and can be built over the course of a single weekend.

Watch Out for Predators

The number one concern (and there are only a handful of others) is to keep your chickens safe from predators. Foxes, dogs, coyotes and hawks are just a few of the wild animals found not only in the country, but in the city too. They are all natural predators of the defenseless chicken.

For more information on raising chickens, click here.