Is it difficult to build your own chicken coop in your backyard? If you are good with hand tools and able to read a building plans, it is actually quite easy.

Many people make it a pastime to raise chickens in their backyard. Baby chickens are available from the local pet store or ‘expo center’. It is full of fun and thrill to feed them and watch them grow.

It is an enjoyable sight to see a batch of chicks move around tweeting. After a few weeks, when they grow to their full-size, it is no longer possible to keep them inside the house in empty cartons or boxes. This is the time when it becomes necessary to construct a chicken coop.

However, people planning to build a chicken coop are sometimes faced with a peculiar situation, especially those who have toiled to develop an attractive landscaped backyard garden. Their dilemma is if they construct a permanent structure as a chicken coop, it will not only spoil the aesthetics of the home and garden but also damage the lawn.

However, at the same time, as the groups of chickens that are being raised are too big to confine them at home and some sort of fondness would have already been developed towards the small chickens by now, it would be distressing to dispose them off. Nevertheless, these difficulties can be easily overcome by having a moveable chicken coop.

Moveable Chicken Coop

Moveable chicken coops are similar to mobile chicken coops that are chicken coops on wheels. However, this option is not so popular with people around the world who are enthusiastic about raising chickens on a mass scale. These people would like to construct huge chicken coops for large number of poultry and very strong egg-layers.

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to shift the coop elsewhere, especially when there is a storm or strong winds lashing the town. As it is virtually impossible to lift up a heavy weight chicken coop and shift elsewhere, the idea of fixing wheels at the bottom emerged, making it a moveable chicken coop.

This ingenious concept caught the attention of people maintaining a chicken coop and now they are popular with most chicken raisers. With a chicken coop that can be moved, one need not be concerned about having a permanent construction in the backyard.

One of the major advantages of having a moveable chicken coop is in winter, it can be shifted near the portico facilitating proper feeding and cleaning. A moveable chicken coop will not come in the way of maintaining the garden and lawns as it can be shifted anytime to a suitable location in the backyard so that fully-grown chickens will not damage the garden.

In case a severe hurricane threatens the town, a chicken coop can be rolled on to another safer location such a s garage if there is space or even inside a shelter, in case the person lives in a farm house. Chicken coops are not merely attaching a pair of wheels to a coop house. What is important is to design a well-thought out and useful chicken coop.

A well designed chicken coop will take care of quality and ensure safety of chickens. It will help in weed and bug control. As the chickens move around daily in the garden, under close supervision so that they do not spoil the garden, they will eat grubs, grasshoppers, beetle or any other insects that come in their way and at the same time, contribute to providing fertilizer to the plants.

The house owner can get fresh eggs as well. The best part of such a well-conceived mobile chicken coop is that it will recover its cost of investment in just a few years.

These days, there are many sites on the web offering ways and methods on how to build a chicken coop. The advice can vary anywhere from the type such as a cage or a hutch to the size that is small in plan or large in plan along with different designs or write ups on how you can be better prepared to build one by yourself.

As you may have already gathered a chicken coop isn’t a very complicated place of residence. However, the correct procedure that would be followed when building a house for any living creature should be adhered to here as well.

Therefore the necessity for some sort of expertise in the matter of building a coop, cage or a hutch is called for. Both the aspects that are correct in construction and the building of it in the correct way using the right materials are needed.

What are the appropriate aspects?

In order to prevent a waste of money and time into a structure that will collapse in a short span of time, the foundation of the coop must be made of treated lumber or cedar. The reason for using the treated wood is so as to prevent the quick natural rotting procedure that occurs with all wood when they come in contact with the ground.

According to the usual methods a hole 16 to 24 inches in diameter and around 48 inches deep is dug and some cement columns are poured into it so as to provide a strong base. Then the lumber post is either directly put into it or a bracket is first fixed and the treated lumber is then attached to it.

Another aspect that must be kept in mind, and absolutely essential for life, is the ventilation as the north frequently faces extreme weather conditions. Although you may have a number of windows you might want to also put a kind of a ridge vent or any other available natural form of ventilation.

What this will do is help to maintain the roof of your construction and also aid in keeping the coop in an acceptable and relaxing condition during the summer months when it is hot. The severe weather elements can be kept at bay by aligning, fixing, and sealing them to a weather strip. If you forget to put this in place it is going to cost you a lot more money in the days to come, in excess of that you invested in constructing the coop and not to forget what you may spend on your birds.

The entire construction can become unstable due to improper sealing, which will allow elements such as the rain, wind and cold to enter your coop. In addition the health of your flock can also be adversely affected. In addition to the windows the doors should also be aligned and weather sealed. Installing a spring and self-latching knob can also be useful as it will put your mind at ease when it comes to the wind blowing open the door and allowing the weather and perhaps even predators to enter without any obstacles or controls.

Insulation can also be placed such as a 1-inch foam within the roof of the coop if you are living in the north.

Why is it necessary to use a design for a chicken coop?

Since we have all been gifted with varying degrees of skills and talents not all of us can create a meticulous coop just from looking at a picture, therefore for those of us who could use some assistance checking out instructions to put it together step by step is very useful.

So unless you were born with those talents do not ignore the experts and their advice. As I had mentioned before a lot of advice can be procured from the net and if you wish to build an unbelievable chicken coop do some research and get this information.

Sometimes some plans can be got at a reasonable price. Such plans will assist you step by step and help you save money on all sorts of materials and mistakes that might occur if you ventured out without them such as having doors that may not shut or windows that may not open or even a roof that leaks.

In conclusion, if you wish to enjoy the numerous benefits of taking care of chickens like their meat , eggs and the general fun connected with raising them do not ignore the fact that a well-constructed chicken coop is a priority.

When you decide to raise free range chickens by allowing them to wander freely you must be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of it. Then you should compare the advantages over the disadvantages.

By compelling forces if you allow chickens to roam freely and leave them to feed themselves it is just like permitting them to live in surroundings that is similar to their natural living. May be sometimes you do not even pick the eggs or kill and eat them, but still it is free range. The main reason for allowing free range chickens to roam freely is chickens living on vegetable matters are more healthy and having better eggs.

Comparatively the meat and eggs of free range chickens are better than that of factory raised chickens. The reason for this is particularly due to their natural living by which they feed on greens, worms and other bugs. So there is no chance of any kind of chemicals entering into their system.

Chickens raised for business purposes usually grow fast within six weeks by feeding on rich food and produce large eggs. These types of chickens are raised in limited surroundings without getting proper exercises or even adequate sunlight. As a result their eggs and meat are tasteless and often become a subject of debate on their adverse effects on human body.

When you are raising free range chickens on vegetation you would have to consider many things. The prime thing is that you must feed them full of grains that are original without containing any chemical contents. Prior to feeding, you can prepare a mixed organic feed taking utmost care that it does not contain any impurities.

Another important factor for raising free range chickens is the amount of space provided for them to roam. They prefer to wander searching their own food instead of feeding on the whole grains or premixed organic feed you give them. So it is important to have a wide area for them to forage for sufficient food.

Unfortunately if you do not have enough space, but you are particular about raising free range chicks you keep only a few number of birds. For growing free range chickens, a space of 12 to 15 square feet is ideal for each chicken. Moreover a qualified free range bird should spend two hours or more outside every day. The more hours would be better.

Another important consideration you should take when raising chickens is not to expose them to any kind of danger. Danger means it can be any form of extreme weather conditions like heavy rain, high temperature etc.

Also beware of dangers from possibility of other animals which prey on the chickens such as foxes, snakes, raccoons and hawks. In order to protect them from the harsh weather conditions the chicken coop should have proper shielding to keep them indoors comfortably.

To keep them safe against predator, construct a boundary wall of the chicken run with wire mesh having at least one foot underground and the top also covered with wire mesh strongly.