EASY CHICKEN PEN PLANS

Have you thought about raising chickens in your back yard?

Maybe you have had great intentions of raising chickens in your back yard. You did your homework and due diligence. You know how many chickens you want to raise. You learned what to feed them. You thought how great it would be to have farm fresh eggs in the morning.

This all seemed very possible until you researched the cost of a prefabricated chicken pen. You learned that you may have to pay anywhere from $500-$1000, which was not in your planned budget.

Easy Chicken Pen Plans has made it possible to build your own chicken coop at the fraction of what it would cost to buy a pre-made chicken pen. If you have a good set of chicken pen plans, your only cost would be the price of the materials. The tools required for this project are common tools that you probably already own or can be obtained at your local hardware store.

Why do you need chicken pen plans?

Chicken pen plans enable people with minimal carpentry skills to complete this project.

There a few thing you need to take into consideration before beginning this project.

• Size of your chicken coop

• Ventilation and Climate Control

• Protection from rodents and skunks

• Cleaning and maintenance

• Positioning the coop to allow sunlight

Good chicken pen plans will allow you to plan for all these elements. Not only will they make building a coop a breeze, it will save you hundred of dollars.

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Chicken Predators: Keeping Them Out!

One problem most people have raising chickens is protecting them from chicken predators.  Chickens are easy prey to these animals because it’s difficult for them to defend themselves.  They’re not too fast and not too ferocious so they are the perfect prey.  If you want to keep these chicken predators out, here are a few suggestions.

There are claims that animals don’t like human scent.  There aren’t many conclusive studies to confirm this but many say this is the reason why humans are the least preyed upon.  To add human scent to the chicken coop, you can place old clothing in various areas of your chicken coop.  Human scent won’t prevent all hungry predators so it is strongly advised that you don’t use this idea as your only chicken predator deterrent.

One of the best deterrents is the chicken coop.  It should have a sturdy build to keep animals out.  Build the structure free from excessive holes and gaps.  An elevated chicken coop can prevent some of the smaller animals from entering the chicken coop.  Wrapping the roosting posts with wire will prevent chicken predators from biting through the posts.

A wire fence around a well built chicken coop offers great protection from predators.  The planks should run at least 10 inches deep into the ground to prevent animals from digging underneath.  The fence should be tall enough to prevent chicken predators from jumping over the fence.  The height will depend on the types of predators in your area but a 5 foot fence should be tall enough to keep out most animals.  If you have foxes in your area, your fence should be built closer to the 5 foot recommendation as they can jump nearly twice their own length.

Protection from chicken predators is crucial if you want to have chicken that can produce eggs for a long time.  Your protection methods will depend on the types of predators you have in your area.  The best deterrent is to use multiple methods instead of relying on just one.  A sturdy coop and a wire fence is a great combination.  Add the human scent for good measures and your chickens should be well protected.

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Chicken Coop Nesting Boxes: How to Make Your Chickens Most Productive

After building a chicken pen, chicken coop nesting boxes are often the next step in completing the project.  These nesting boxes come in various shapes and sizes.  The size and shape is dependent upon the number of chickens you have and the size of your coop.  One also must choose whether to build their chicken coop nesting boxes with practicality in mind or aesthetics.

Chicken nesting boxes must be built with the goal of being the most productive.  In other words, we want our chickens to lay the most eggs possible.  Most boxes are built in a similar manner: build the box and fill it with straw.  However, if your chicken is not as productive as you’d like, your nesting box could be the issue.

Nesting boxes are often built to fit as many chickens as possible.  While there are good reasons for building boxes in this manner, it can decrease your egg production.  When larger boxes get crowded, chickens tend to lay eggs on the floor to avoid the crowd.  This can cause the eggs to get lost in the dirt, broken, or eaten.   Chickens lay more eggs in smaller nesting boxes where there isn’t a big crowd.  There tends to be less mess with the straw staying in the box.  A box that fits 3-4 chickens would suffice.

The angle of the nesting box roof should be at an angle.  This is to prevent the chickens from roosting on the roof.  If they are roosting on top of the roof chances are some of your eggs will be laid there also.  Chicken eggs rolling off the roof is not the most productive way to get eggs.

A chute placed where the laid eggs can roll to a separate location will increase your production.  Frequent interruptions that disturb the chickens can destroy the eggs.  Installing a chute might add to your costs but it will increase the amount of eggs you will have.

If you don’t want to build a chute, you can install doors at the back of the chicken coop nesting boxes.  This will allow you to collect eggs without disturbing the chickens.  You should build a lip at the edge to the box to prevent the eggs from falling out when you open the door. 

The size of the box will vary but you generally want the height to be approximately nine inches.  If you want to limit the amount of chickens in each nesting box as suggested earlier, they should be about 12 square inches. 

These were a few suggestions to make your chickens more productive by optimizing your chicken coop nesting boxes.  If your chicken is not laying eggs at the rate you would like, try implementing some of these suggestions.

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Chicken Coop Ideas You Can Implement Yourself

If you decided to build your own chicken house, you may be pondering chicken coop ideas. There are many things that you need to decide when building your chicken coop. Having a set of plans can help you decide what type of chicken house you want or may give you some ideas how to proceed with your project.

Chicken coop ideas can impact how difficult it could be to raise your chickens. One idea could be to make a movable chicken house. This is a coop that could be moved around the yard. There are many reasons why you may want to do this. The direction of the sunlight could change according to the season or big trees could block sunlight in the summer. You can move your chicken coop to areas of your yard that allow maximum sunlight. Another reason why you may want a moveable coop is to move it closer to your house in the winter months. You would have a shorter distance to access the coop when it is cold outside.

Another one of my chicken coop ideas would be to elevate the coop about 1-2 inches off the ground. One reason to do this is to make cleaning a lot easier. There will be less mud to clean during rainy weather. Another reason would be to give you chickens a shady area to relax when it get very hot outside.

Another idea would be to design your coop according to your living area. This probably won't matter much in a rural environment as much as the suburbs. You would want your chicken house to be eye pleasing to your neighbors. Having uneasy relations with your neighbors because of your design and color would take a lot of fun out of raising chickens.

These were a few of many chicken coop ideas. A good set of chicken pen plans can give you some ideas how to build your coop. It also makes it very easy to build without having any setbacks. The number of ideas are only limited by your imagination.

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The Chicken Pen Building Tips

Almost anyone can learn how to build a chicken pen if they follow good chicken pen plans that outlines the process step by step. If you're looking to build a chicken coop, you probably already discovered the high cost of buying a new structure. Building your own chicken house is a cheaper alternative and isn't very difficult.


Determine the Size of Your Coop

This decision is largely influenced by the number of chickens you plan to raise and the space in your yard. If you are just raising a few chickens, a small chicken coop should be sufficient. You also need to think if you want to build a chicken pen that will occupy a large portion of your yard.


Find the Plan That Fits

Once you determined the size and design of your coop, you need to find a blueprint that fits your needs. You don't want to spend time building your chicken coop only to discover you need windows that face the south on order to allow maximum sunlight. A good blue print will also account for proper ventilation and climate control.

Gather Your Materials

Your plan should outline the materials you need. Before you begin to build a chicken pen, you need to get these materials from your local hardware store. Getting your material precut and labeled can make your project more efficient. You might want to have some extra material on hand in case you make a mistake.
After these 3 steps, the only thing left to do is to build your structure. This project can seem overwhelming if you never done anything like this before. A good set of plans will make this process a lot easier. Once you realize your cost savings, you'll be glad you learned how to build a chicken pen.

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Build Your Coop Anywhere with Chicken Tractor Plans

There are many styles of chicken coops to choose. If you looking for flexibility, you should consider chicken tractor plans. A tractor is a lightweight, portable chicken cop that has wheels attached for easy movement. Although this design is lightweight, you will still pay a lot a of money for a prefab structure.

Chicken tractor plans will allow you to build a chicken coop that can be moved to different parts of your yard. This design has many benefits such as the ability to raise free range chickens while keeping them protected. There are no floors in this model there for the chickens can feed off the grass, weeds and bugs.
While being able to roam on the grass, they are protected from predators.

A portable coop allows you to move your coop when the season changes. For instance, you can move your coop in a shady area during the hot summer months. Or, the coop can be moved closer to the house in the winter to make egg collection and tending too your birds more convenient.

Chicken tractor plans are probably the easiest plans to follow. There are no floors to build. The chicken tractors are generally smaller coops therefore there is less material to purchase and assemble. As with most coops, you need to purchase wood, steel mesh, and maybe some PVC.

Chicken pen plans allow you to build a coop that offer great flexibility. You have the option of raising free range chicken while keeping them protected from predators. You will be able to move your coop to different parts of the yard as needed.

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Get the Most Out of Your Chicken Housing Plans

There are chicken housing plans designed to make your DIY project successful. Chicken breeders are opting to build their own chicken coops instead of buying due to the costs. If you're looking to build your own chicken structure, here are 3 tips to help you build the right house for your needs.

First you should determine the size of the chicken coop you need and choose the appropriate chicken housing plans. You should build a chicken house large enough to accommodate the number of chickens you plan to raise, and not necessarily the number of birds you have on hand. Chickens need ample space to roam so you should plan about 10 square feet per chicken. The size of your structure will also depend on the size of your yard.

Not only should your chicken housing plans provide room for your chickens, it should provide space for you to perform maintenance, feeding, and egg collection. Your chicken coop will need to be cleaned periodically; therefore you will need to access the structure comfortably. You will need room to feed the birds and clean out their nesting boxes. The floors may get muddy so you will need to be able to clean that area.

After building your chicken house, you will need to protect your chickens from predators such as skunks and other rodents. A good set of chicken housing plans should account for protection. A simple way to keep predators out is to set up chicken wire around the structure. This wire fence should be about a foot deep into the ground to prevent from digging underneath.

Chicken pen plans will make your DIY project run smoothly. To get the most out of these plans, you need to pick the best blueprint to fit your needs and resources. The aforementioned tips should help you started in the right direction.

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