Building a Poultry Enclosure on a Budget

If you are building poultry enclosure and trying to stay within a budget, you will need to look at some considerations to ensure you maximize your success for the project.

There are a few things you can look at to save money before you begin building.

Get professional plans for building a poultry enclosure- click here!

Many first-time chicken owners have overspent hundreds of dollars on the project which they could have saved if they looked at a few key factors. By making a few adjustments they could have saved a few hundred dollars at least. Plus, these building a poultry enclosure tips will show you how to build the structure right the first time and avoid rebuilding down the road.

Here are a few main tips:

Choosing the land to build on

The first thing you should do when building poultry enclosure is to carefully choose the land you want to build on. Survey the area with an open mind in terms of rainfall and pooling or flooding. Many people have picked the wrong spot to build where the location collects water or the ground is not firm. They have unfortunately faced shifting structural damage, flooding or having to rebuild the entire project.

Many people invest in landscaping to even out the ground before they build. Expect to pay a lot for this service because this can cost hundreds of dollars paid to a contractor.

Or if you do it yourself, you will have to rent equipment that moves earth or flattens an area. You might run across problems and it will take time to finish this portion, and it will cost a small amount of money.

To stay on your budget, avoid all this and pick the best surface in your yard for the chicken coop. By taking the time to survey the area you will be glad you did. Try a couple of tips to gauge the ground. After a heavy rain, walk around your yard and find the firmest area of earth. Utilize tree cover to help protect the coop from rain and sun.

Adding Windows

The second thing you need to consider is adding and placement of windows in the chicken coop. The windows will be the primary light source for the chickens (they need 10 hours of light per day) if they live indoors.

If you don’t have windows you will need to install an electrical lighting system for lights which can be expensive. Place the windows to capture as much daylight as you can. Also, use windows that open to maximize ventilation. By placing the windows well and allowing for ventilation you kill two birds with one stone and save money.

Build a small poultry house

Finally, a way to stay within the budget of building a poultry enclosure is to build smaller. You will have a space that can handle fewer chickens and is sustainable. This will mean lower costs in feed, upkeep and less cleaning to do.

Generally, you will need just 1-3 chickens to have all the eggs you need per week. By building a smaller poultry enclosure you will save on building materials which can take up the largest part of the budget. Assess how big you want to build before you get started.

By applying these tips you can stay within your target budget and end up with a great chicken enclosure. You will be glad of taking the time to do some practical planning before you invest in materials, labor and your time.

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 out Building a Chicken Coop.

Get drafts of plans, dimensions, materials lists and sources to everything you need to build a sustainable chicken coop.