Chicken Coop Hen House

Design Tips for Building a Chicken Coop Hen House

If you want to raise chickens in your home, then constructing a backyard chicken coop or a chicken coop hen house is a must. Only healthy and comfortable chickens who feel safe in their surroundings produce the best eggs and keeping them in a pen made of just chicken wire will not make them feel this way.

What you need is a proper coop constructed out of wood so that your chickens are able to feel safe enough to give you quality eggs. This article will discuss some tips which will help you ensure that the chicken coop hen house you construct consists of all the design elements necessary to allow your chickens to produce the most number of eggs.

When designing your chicken coop hen house, predators should be on the top of your list of priorities. Foxes, dogs, raccoons, weasels and other wily animals are a serious threat to the safety of your chickens, and keeping them penned in a plain wire structure if of no value if you want to keep these predators out. In order to maximize the safety of your hens, you need to have a coop constructed out quality material, with strong doors and wire layering the windows. Also, put chicken wire around the chicken run buried one foot deep into the ground to keep these predators from digging their way through to your chickens.

When thinking about the comfort of the chickens, think of them the way you would think about the comfort of people. They don’t want to be in a place which is too hot, or damp or too cold, as exposure to such extreme conditions can seriously affect their health. This is why the design of the chicken coop needs to be so that they are protected from extreme weather conditions. Add the windows so that they face south, as this will allow plenty of sunlight to enter the coop, keeping the coop warm in the winter months. During summer, these windows will let in fresh air, as ventilation is essential for the coop to remain dry and cool.

Keep these aspects in mind when your are designing the chicken coop, or better yet, purchase a chicken coop design plan and make small amendments to suit your particular needs. With proper plans that have instructions which are easy to follow, you will save plenty of money. Just remember, only the most comfortable and healthy chickens lay the best eggs.