Building a Chicken Coop - Find the Right Location

Besides the actual chicken coop plans, finding the right location for your coop will determine whether you and your chickens will be happy with your chicken coop efforts. Building your chicken coop in the right location and position leads to happier, healthier chickens and results in them laying more eggs.

Find a well protected area in your yard. This depends on how large your yard is after all. If you have a lot of space, you may want to consider building a chicken coop where you can easily have an eye on it. You can also build a portable chicken coop if that is more convenient to you.

Think about what predators there are in your area. That includes domestic predators such as your neighbors' cats or dogs. Wild predators will often include raccoons, foxes, badgers and rats. But don't forget the treats from the air. Hawks can also pose a danger to your poultry. If you know that there are hawks in your area you will want to consider building a covered run. If the plans you pick don't include a covered run you may have to modify them to your needs.

Additionally, picking the right fence to go with your home-made chicken coop will be a major asset in protecting your chickens. If there are a lot of predators that may dig their way underneath, you will have to build your coop far enough into the ground to deter the strongest-willed predator.

Another thing to think about when building a chicken coop is that your chickens require a great deal of sunlight. Make sure to position it so that it faces the sun as long as possible during the day. Building a chicken coop in overly shadowy areas is not such a good idea. If your chickens don't get a lot of sunlight, you will have to install electrical lighting, which is not very cost effective.

While your coop should be well ventilated, it should not be too windy either. So if you live in a very windy area, consider building the chicken coop close to the house or a group of trees that break the wind a bit. The same is true for very rainy climates. If you get a lot of rain, position your chicken coop so that it is as much protected as possible. Also you don't want to build the coop so that rain can flow down and flood the coop.