Chicken Coop-Hen House Design Tips
A solid chicken coop-hen house is an absolute must for your yard, if you are considering raising hens. Building a hen house, you must start with the chickens. Hens act really, really annoyed when they are wet. They are vulnerable to diseases, so putting a roof over their heads is important. Hens like safe, enclosed nesting areas so will gravitate to a dark corner. After addressing the needs of your chickens, then you can begin to add elements that make your life easier.
Chickens need an access to fresh water all year round. Use big waterer that holds a gallon of water. Locate it near a water spigot. Electricity is necessary, in order to brood chicks or provide enough light to trick your hens into laying year around. Use a dispenser that generates food each day in a specific portion. Additional dispensers for grit or oyster shell can be useful too. This way you can leave for a weekend without coming home to starving chickens. Hanging feeders are less messy with less waste. If you don't come up with an excellent solution in feeding your chickens automatically, storing the food close by is helpful. You can store the foods in bins or metal garbage cans with tight lids. Then, store them close to or in your hen house.
To prevent predatory birds from harming your young chickens, wild birds from spreading disease, and furry predators and rodents from eating your feed, the coop will need to be completely enclosed with wire netting. Bury the chicken wire around the perimeter of the coop to discourage tunneling rodents. To keep your chickens more safe, they need an enclosure with strong doors, and with strong wire covering the windows.
Think of your chickens just like they were people. No one likes to be too hot, too cold or too damp, and being exposed to extreme conditions that can deteriorate health. It's very important to give your chickens somewhere to live that will keep them protected from harsh elements. In winter, a coop with south facing windows will allow in plenty of sunlight, warming the coop. In summer, the windows allow air flow and ventilation that will help cool the chicken. Birds need a part of the coop shaded so they can get out of the sun. Protecting them from storm and winds, a windbreak will help.
In order for you to easily spread fresh straw in nesting boxes, a bale or two of straw should be stored near the hen house. You'll need a rake or broom nearby for raking up the old straw and sweeping out the hen house (depends on how you build your coop and hen house). If your yard is fenced, letting your hens run free instead of containing them in a coop or chicken run is a wonderful thing. They will eat weeds and leave fertilizer as they work. Also, after they have laid their eggs, let them out of the coop or hen house.
When you go to design or build your coop, consider these design aspects. Having good plans and instructions in hand, anyone can build a good chicken coop, and building it yourself will save you up to 50% of the cost of buying a coop. Just remember that the best eggs come from comfortable, healthy chickens, and that should be your top priority when it comes to your backyard coop.
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About the Author:
Ian Maranon is writer with an avid fan of simple life with interests in gardening and pets, home cleaning and improvement, travel, and finance management. Check out his updates with Efrontiers Everyday Magazine Blog. Take a look at chicken building information and updates on Plan Chicken Coop.