Chicken Houses

When conceptualizing the design for our chicken house, we pondered and read about other home-built chicken houses at http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html.  We designed and built what we thought was the perfect chicken house.  Our chicken house works for us, but it turned out to be too large.  As you read we will show you what we did, what worked, and what we would change.


When designing a coop, the first thing that needs to be decided is if the chickens will free range around the yard or stay in the coop at all times.  The advantages of free ranging are reduced feed costs, less frequent coop cleanings, fewer insects around the yard, and healthier birds.  Disadvantages are increased risk of predators, the garden has to be fenced to keep the chickens out, and there will be some chicken poop in your yard.  Our coop door stays open at all times and the birds let themselves out in the morning and put themselves up in the coop at sundown.  Our dogs run with our chickens all day, so we haven't had any predator problems.  We built this coop with a dirt run because we envisioned them staying in the coop at all times.  Allowing them to free range turned out to be easy and the best solution for them and us.  The size of a coop should be determined by the maximum number of birds it will house, the size of the bird's breed, and if they will be allowed to free range or not.  If free ranging, 4 square feet of coop space is sufficient per bird for large birds like our Black Australorps.  If kept in the coop full time, allow them at least double that at 8 square feet per bird.  Bantams should require less space, but we have no direct experience with them.

Sometime in the next several years, we intend to move to a more rural location.  We wanted the ability to take our chicken house with us, so we built it on pressure treated wooden skids to allow it to be winched onto our flatbed trailer for transport.  Our trailer is a 5' x 12', so our chicken house was built 4'10" wide and 11'10" wide at the base to fit.   The bottom level is a 3' tall dirt run.  The upper coop area is 8' long and 3' tall with a 2' tall storage area above it making the coop 8' tall at its highest point.  Since it is built on skids and not concreted into the ground, stability in high winds was a real concern.  We drove four 6' t-posts 3' into the ground at each corner of the coop area.  These posts were secured to the coop with two pieces of 1" plumbing strapping each.  The coop hasn't moved an inch after a year with plenty of weather events.  The "windows" on the sides are covered in chicken wire and have covers that slide up and down in channels.  During cold times of the year the house is closed up except for one window on each side kept cracked to allow proper ventilation and moisture removal.  During the hot times of year, they are opened fully to allow maximum airflow.  These pictures were taken in early spring, when it still got down into the 50's at night, so all of the "windows" are cracked.

Our house includes four built-in nest boxes with outside access to aid in egg collection.  The outside access is a must, but if we had to do it again we would build removable nest boxes.  This would allow easier cleaning and the ability to remove them completely if we wanted to use the coop for meat chicken production.  Chickens tend to poop where they roost, so the nesting boxes have a slanted roof at about a 35 degree pitch to keep them from roosting on top of them.  We've found that 35 degrees has not been steep enough to prevent roosting, especially with younger and lighter birds.  A piece of old blue jeans covering the entrances and slit to allow the birds access encourages the hen to lay in the nesting boxes by giving them a safe, private place to lay.  Because we anticipated the chickens staying in the coop full time, chicken wire was placed over the collection openings to keep chickens on the nest from escaping when the doors were opened.  A 5" gap was left at the bottom to permit access for egg collection.  

This picture shows the defecation and the damage to the ceiling insulation the chickens did because they were able to stand on the top of the nest boxes.

The end of the upper coop is hinged to allow easy clean out.  Here you can see the removable roosting bars.  These are essential as an evening roosting place off of the floor keeps them out of their poop and concentrates it near the opening for easy cleaning.  The coop needs to be cleaned out about twice per year.

A 1"x12" board with wooden slats screwed to it serves as a ramp for the chickens to access the upper coop.  This feeder holds 40 pounds of feed and keeps our six chickens fed for several weeks during the summer with one filling.

The top covering of the dirt run is hinged to allow it to swing up and out of the way.  This allows a person to stand up and rake and shovel out the dirt run.  Since we began free ranging, cleaning this area hasn't been needed.


If we built one today, knowing that we were going to free range, we would build one that would only serve as housing for the nest boxes and as a roosting spot for the chickens at night.