Build a Chicken Coop - What Plans Should You Buy?

April 24th, 2009

chickencoop12Hey everyone. Wade here.

So I’ve given you the basic reasons of why its important to choose the right plans when you build a chicken coop. Consequently, I have been flooded with emails by people asking my opinion on what I think the best design book is. I promised earlier I would let you guys know the exact book I used to build my chicken coop. So before I give you a small speel on the book - you can check it out here:

Link to the ebook. (the price was $49 at the time of this writing, it could be different now)

For those of you that don’t know me well, a few years ago I decided it would be fun and challenging to raise feed chickens - and it would be a good opportunity to spend time with my son. So I spent countless hours drawing up coop designs, running to the store to get a bracket or some odd supply I didn’t know I needed. To make a long story short - I went through about 4 designs total and wasted quite a bit of money.

I was seriously about to give up, this chicken coop thing was much harder than I expected. I thought a chicken coop was just a square box made out of wood to house chickens. Big mistake! There are so many design elements that make a big difference in the overall health of your chickens - such as a proper ventilation design, insulation, or even something as simple as a light source! And buying a pre-built chicken coop was out of the picture, those things are so darn expensive - and you still don’t know if you’re getting quality!

I finally swallowed my pride and asked a good buddy of mine, Allen, about building a chicken coop. Allen is a friend who has been raising chickens for over 15 years, and really knows his stuff when it comes to chicken coops. To my surprise - he recommended me an ebook.

Again, you can check out the ebook here: Building a Chicken Coop

The manual does cost money ($40-$50 I believe), however I think it is more than worth its weight in gold. I spent several hundreds of dollars and wasted plenty of hours trying to come up with a good design - so the $40-$50 cost of the manual is a drop in the bucket compared to the money and time you will actually be saving. If you don’t believe me, go out and try it your way - come back when your frustrated and broke. Just don’t get mad when I say I told ya so!

Anyway - I was blown away. And I’m not easily impressed. The book has quite a selection of designs to meet the needs of several sizes and budgets. What’s even more, most of the designs can be made with basic tools, such as a saw, hammer, and drill. And here I was thinking you needed a woodworking shop to build a chicken coop! The book also gives you several crucial tips such as how to best position your coop, and what the best materials are to use. Basically - if it’s about building a chicken coop - it’s gonna be in the book.

What I didn’t like: although the book had quite a few designs that were amazingly helpful to me, it also contained some fluff that I didn’t necessarily care for. It contained several ‘tips sections’ such as how to cure various health issues or what the top foods were to feed your chicken. This is a subjective complaint, as some people would more than welcome the bonuses. However, if you’re like me you can skip all that and get to the good stuff.

Folks, it honestly does not get any better than this. I’ve scoured high and low for a book like this. Your basically skipping all of my costly mistakes and wasted time, seriously. Check it out - and thank me later.

Click Here - Building a Chicken Coop

Be sure to leave me comments or send me pictures of your designs. I am putting together a picture page for those with the best looking coops!

How to Build a Chicken Coop - Choosing the Right Chicken Coop Plans

April 24th, 2009

Hey everyone! In this post I’m going to talk about the importance of choosing the right chicken coop plans.

For starters - you should now that just because you run to your nearest hardware or pet store and pick up a chicken coop design book does not mean it will turn out right. There are several types of chicken coops depending on your needs. You need to assess the type of needs you and your chickens are going to need  - such as size, climate, type of predators, cleaning techniques etc.

Choosing the wrong design or buying the wrong chicken coop plans can spell disaster before you even get started. It can also be quite costly as you will probably starting over several times until you figure out what you really need.

So take it from someone who has made this exact mistake - choose the right chicken coop plans! You will thank yourself later, and so will your chickens!!

Build a Chicken Coop - How to Build a Chicken Coop Right the First Time

April 24th, 2009

Hey everyone! I’m dedicating this blog on how to build a chicken coop.

For those of you that are interested in building a chicken coop, then you’ve come to the right place. If you think you have to be a carpenter or an expert woodworker to build a chicken coop then your dead wrong. Granted - they do take some initial planning, but if you know where to look and what supplies to buy - the end result can be quite good! The best part about all of this is that by reading my blog you can bypass all the initial mistakes I made. And they were quite costly!!

My first chicken coop project did not turn out so well. I didn’t know what I was doing. The design was very poor, and my chickens weren’t getting the ventilation or the protection they needed - especially when winter rolled in.

The most important part about building a chicken coop is finding a good design and sticking to it. I have some firm recommendations that I will share later on the blog. Check back later!!