The Best Way To Build A Chicken House

Chickens need a warm place to live. They need a place where their natural predators will not break in and transport them or their young away into the night. They need protection when the weather takes a nasty turn. You will need to make sure you build a snug coop because drafty ones are hazardous for hens. If you have never put together a chicken house previously, you can learn how to build a good chicken coop.

Scout out the spot where you would like to build a chicken coop. Inexperienced persons frequently decide to construct a hen house without finding out about the ground saturation before hand. In the event that the spot has a tendency to pool water, it is a bad area to put up a hen house.

Hens should have a dry area. You will need a level spot to build the hen house on, however never construct a coop directly on the ground. Have you ever had a snake or rodent enter an outside building or shed? These same predators could quickly get inside hen coops that are erected flat on the ground no matter how much chicken fencing you put up round the hen house.

Predators won't merely turn up on the ground either. Hawks together with other sorts of large birds will snatch small chickens and take off with them. Whenever the hens are outside of the coop, they must be protected from these types of predators also.

Humidity inside of a coop is not healthy for hens. You’ll need to make sure you have some form of opening for air to stir through. Some chicken owners use a basic vent, while other chicken owners install a screened window that will open up.

Those who take shortcuts carve a small hole in the plywood and nail a screen over that, but this isn’t recommended. The air flow opening has to be one that may be shut in the event of bad weather conditions or simply built in such a way that rainwater and major drafts can’t get inside the structure.

Since hens cannot fly as well as other birds, make sure you do not position the perches too high from the floor where they could get injured if they have a fall. Perches shouldn’t be erected any higher than three to four feet off the floor.

Nesting boxes must be erected lower than the perches (to stop them from turning into the place the chickens prefer to sleep) and should be deep enough to make the hen feel contented.

When setting up nesting boxes, make sure to slant the top of it because hens really like to roost on the flat surface of the boxes. The reason behind the slanted top is because if chickens roost on the top, as they do their business, you will end up with quite an accumulation of droppings to frequently clean off.

Give the front of the nesting box a ledge so that the chicken may balance there when getting in and out of the nest. Abide by these instructions and you’ll have put together a chicken house that withstands the test of time.

To discover more about building a chicken coop, visit Raising Backyard Chickens.