The best
chicken coop is the one you
build yourself. Why you may ask? It is quite simple
really. If you buy a commercially built hen house
you will pay an arm and a leg for it. From a few
hundred to a thousand dollars or more is the price
range you would be looking at.
Most people who
intend to keep a small flock of chickens, just to
get a supply of fresh eggs for the table, would not
find this high cost to be a reasonable proposition.
Far better to build your own chicken house at just
the cost of the materials and a good set of plans.
If you are not a carpenter yourself there is usually
someone in the family or a friend who can do the job
for you.
You need first to decide on the size of chicken coop you need, and the design you prefer. The size
depends on the number of hens to be housed. The coop
should have about four square feet for each bird and
the attached outdoor run should have at least that
or preferably a bit more.This allows the chickens to
have their own space for indoor sleeping and egg
laying and enough space to forage outdoors.
The design of the coop depends on your local
climate and on your preferences. It must be built
well to keep out predators, which will kill the
chickens, and to protect the birds from bad weather.
Just don,t try to cobble together an amateurish hen
house without a good plan. The small cost of good
plans with instructions and all kinds of extra
bonuses is well worth it and will enable you to
construct a really sound well built chicken coop.
