How To Build A Chook House

Here we go....

Because there are so many variables you need some sort of plan or blueprint on how you will build a chook house to work to. Until you have a plan you will be building by trial and error.

Imagine how much effort, time and money would be wasted every time you got it wrong? Remember, this is supposed to be a labor of love, not a chore that you loathe!

Once you have a plan, then you will know how much and what size timber, netting, feeders, watering troughs, nails you will need.

OK, so now that you are getting a plan together here are some practical tips for you to consider before you build a chook house.

Use the right size for your flock;

As a guideline - each bird needs about 4 square feet so if you were looking at keeping;
1-6 birds a small, floorless portable ark or tractor would be fine.
6-10 chickens need a medium sized hen house (about 30-40 square feet). This is definitely a more permanent fixture, so you will need to be aware of the aesthetics of the building.
10-15+ birds need a large coop and a secure run. Keeping this many birds is almost a commercial operation so the logistics of collecting the eggs and cleaning the hen house become more important than with the smaller houses.

Have a think about where your light source will come from.

Windows are obviously the best source, but ensure that they are well positioned to catch the sun without it affecting the comfort of the chooks. How easy do you think it would be to lay eggs with the sun shining in your eyes? Any other light will need to come from artificial sources, so getting the windows right will save you a heap in electricity!

What sort of ventilation will they have? They need fresh air, so windows or vents are a great idea, but be careful that you don't create a draught at the same time.

Ideally when you build a chook house you want the climate within the coop to be as constant as possible, this may mean that you need to insulate the walls with paper, straw or commercial insulation.

We know that chickens need roughly 4 square feet per chook right?

Well, also factor in the size of your feed and water troughs, the nests. It is thought that up to 90% of farmers that try to build a chook house need to extend their house simply because they had not factored in how much room they would need when everything was put in.

They also need a 'play area' or a run. But unfortunately this also means that they will be in full view of their predators.
This is one factor that is sooo often overlooked by people when building a hen house and one of the real reason that families stop farming their eggs is because they constantly loose their chooks to predators like the fox, owls, raccoons, opossums, snakes, stoats, weasles and so on.

Securing the run and chook house is a relatively easy thing to do when you are building the coop, but very difficult to get right once the coop is built. So it is really important to get this right from the start.