Choosing The Best Chicken Coop For Your Yard

You’ll find that many chicken coop plans differ from size to size and shape to shape. The size of your yard and the number of birds you plan to keep should be the determining factors in your choice of large chicken coop plans or small ones. Make sure to choose large chicken coop plans if you’re planning to own more than 6 chickens at a time. Choosing the design of the chicken coop is the next step since the size of the coop has now been chosen.


Choosing large chicken coop plans really isn’t that hard if you know what you’re looking for. In fact you could probably even come up with your own plans, all you’d need is a little imagination. Even choosing the materials you’ll use to build your coop is totally and completely up to you. What materials you choose to use is really your decision as there is no right or wrong answer. You can use a combination of both wood and iron, or make a simple box style coop if you’re pressed for time and low on materials.

In the end, you can really create a wonderful place for your chickens to live. Whether it’s small or large chicken coop plans you choose to go with, the bottom line is affordability and usefulness. Coops are also a great way to keep chicken poop under control and too keep the chickens themselves from running wild. Grab your plans, your tools and your materials and make your birds a great chicken coop today!

Whatever coop style you choose, be sure it’s secure. Even in an urban environment, predators can be a serious problem. Dogs, cats and wild animals and raptors will help themselves to a free chicken dinner if you don't stop them. To get to your birds, predators will fly into, dig under or gnaw into any coop they can.


So you must plan to provide protection against predators. Chicken wire keeps your chickens in the coop, but it may not be strong enough to keep dogs or coyotes out. Heavier gauge mesh or woven wire are options to consider. Electric poultry netting (light and easily moved) is also a popular option to keep predators out and chickens in. A small doghouse inside a portable wire pen makes a great fortress for two to four hens.
Keeping chickens should be fun and require little management. You don’t need to spend lots of money and time to get set up. You can let them out to range, and they will instinctively return to their roosts at dusk. Just be sure to keep them penned up for a few days before you let them range for the first time; it takes them awhile to learn where ‘home’ is.


If you’re thinking of a walk-in shed with a small outside run of barren earth, it’s time to change your thinking. There’s a better way to keep your hens. Instead of a traditional chicken shed, use a small moveable pen that allows chickens to eat bugs (ticks, grasshoppers, worms, fleas, etc.), grass (yes, chickens do eat grass and plants) and weed seeds. Let your chickens graze in the yard and move the pen every day or two. This creates a synergistic relationship — both the chickens and the lawn benefit.

There are dozens of reasons to keep a few hens in your backyard, including pest control and sheer entertainment. Fresh eggs may be the most popular reason, and eggs from hens allowed to do what comes naturally — roam and peck at grasses, weed seeds and bugs — not only taste better, they’re better for you than eggs from cage-raised hens. Free-range eggs are higher in vitamin E and beta carotene, and lower in cholesterol.

Most dogs can be trained not to bother chickens, and a dog’s presence will deter many chicken predators, too.


Build a movable chicken coop for a few hens from recycled materials and scrap lumber....

Protection from Weather

Keeping your birds dry is one of the main purposes of the coop. But don’t try to make the coop airtight to conserve heat. Stale, humid air is much worse for chickens than cold fresh air. Healthy, well-fed birds can tolerate cold conditions if they’re dry and out of the wind.

Be creative — your chickens don’t need a huge space to roost at night. Chain-link dog kennels can easily be converted to a small, easy to move coop. Greenhouses make a great home for chickens during winter months. Build some chicken ‘cabinets’ in the garage and use a pet door to let them outside. The space within the garage could be on the floor or elevated to take up less floor space (chickens will use a ramp to get in). But you’ll probably want the chickens’ area to be enclosed by more than just chicken wire — they tend to stir up a great deal of dust.

A slightly remodeled plastic doghouse and a wire pen make a perfect home for two to four hens.


The best thing is you can be creative and make your chicken coop design.