Build a Chicken House in a Weekend

Building a chicken house quickly is a great motivator for beginning your project. You can accomplish the task in one weekend provided you follow a plan.

Here are some techniques to follow when beginning your chicken house. When you follow a professional building plan you are sure to have a successful project.

Here are some of the things you need to do to build a chicken house successfully.

Click here for DIY chicken house building guides. 

Plan the interior of the chicken house first

Many people will start to build their project and end up with not enough space inside for all that’s needed. Although the plan looked big enough from the outside, the ground space is quickly filled with the nesting boxes, chicken roost, feeders, water equipment and other pieces.

When you see the diagram for the chicken coop, the free space shown in the interior looks large. However, once you add in all the pieces you may be left with a very small ground area for the chickens to actually move in. If you chose a plan that is too small it will limit how many chickens you can have, limiting your eggs per week as well. Also, it could cause eventual overcrowding of the chickens which you should always avoid.

To solve this problem, draw out the interior space first and include the dimensions for all you equipment and interior pieces. Then chose a chicken house plan that accommodates both the floor space and the other elements.

Make sure you give the chickens enough light

Next, plan for adequate light when building your chicken coop. You will need to add closing windows to the coop which fasten securely. This will insulate the coop, protect from predators and provide enough sunlight for the chicken house.

When placing the windows in your chicken house plan be sure to designate the location carefully. Do not place the windows too low or the heat of the sun could make the chickens uncomfortable. Chose the sides of the coop where the most light enters during the day, and place the windows here, higher up. Chose windows that slide and lock or else those that have a fastener on the inside.

Never build a smaller coop than you think you’ll need

As noted in the first point, consider the size of the chicken house you think you will need. It’s a good decision to build a little larger because then you have the option of adding another one or two chickens if you want to later. Also, allowing for the equipment you may buy used or from another resource than you originally thought, you have more space to work with.

A bad situation is when you build too small and you find you have to tear out what you’ve built and build it over again. Or, adding on extensions and other pieces over time makes the project more cumbersome than it needed to be.

Make sure you follow these basic steps when building your chicken house. The plans may seem overwhelming when you are looking for the perfect one, but a good online guide will break down the project into manageable steps that will allow you to easily complete the project in a weekend.

 These are the plans I settled on:

They really worked for me and I got the chicken coop I wanted within my budget and my building skills. I highly recommend you check outBuilding a Chicken Coop.

This is the ultimate guide to planning and building your own coop in your backyard. In includes drafts of plans, dimensions, materials lists and sources to everything you need to build a sustainable chicken coop.