Chicken House Plans For Healthy Happy Chickens
Chicken house plans must of course be designed to keep your chickens safe from predators and the brutal elements.
This means that your chicken coop must be built to keep out dogs, cats, and hawks that might harm baby chicks or eggs.
At the same time your coop should be designed so your chickens have plenty of access to outside air circulation. These feats can be easily accomplished by enclosing your chicken house and run in wire netting with a small enough mesh to keep out food stealing rats and mice.
Your chicken house needs to have a solid roof however so your chicks are protected from rain and sun. Your chicken coop should also have an enclosed area for your chickens to sleep in at night and where they can huddle when the wind blows cold.
During the day your chickens will appreciate access to the sun and outdoors. If you are not able to let your chickens roam freely in a fenced yard or field, you should design your coop to have an open area called a chicken run that is enclosed in wire netting, or you could transfer your chicks into a portable enclosure.
A portable chicken coop which is also called a chicken tractor or chicken ark, lets your chickens travel around the yard while being kept safe and secure. A chicken tractor is a small A-frame chicken house with a covered roof and wire sides. There is no bottom to this chicken coop so your chickens can scratch in the dirt and enjoy the outdoors.
In order to keep your chickens happy and healthy, design your chicken house with those points in mind rather than just thinking about ways to keep your chickens from wandering off. Build a chicken coop to keep them safe from the weather and other critters that would do them harm and add runs or let them roam in a chicken ark to get plenty of exercise through scratching and chasing bugs.
Don’t want to design your own coop? Here are some nice chicken house plans.
Fred Land, an aspiring urban farmer and backyard chicken keeper.
