Chook Me!

Plans for a chicken coop needed!?

I am wanting plans for a chicken coop that would house 3 chickens. I am also wanting to be able to walk into their barn to clean it out. There must be an exit they can get through on one of the sides.

Public Comments

1. It is very hard to find full on free chicken coop plans online, but here is a guide for a simple build of chicken coop. http://chickencoopplans4u.com/ There are many many ways to make chicken coops. Depending onhow many chickens you want/are going to get you can make a simple coop with about 6 pieces of plywood cut to your specific size of coop. Make a roof and floor and sides just like a box. To make it easier for you to clean you can add hinges to one size of the top of the coop to lift open. Then you need to make a hole about 1ft or so talk by 1' or so wide for th chickens to go inside. You need to put some roosting poles (dawl rods) inside the coop. They likethem to be 1ft or taller off the ground. Each bird needs 1ft of roosting room so for example if you had 5 hens/roosters you would need about 5ft of room on your roosts. Then you need nesting boxes inside the coop. You need one nesting box for every 2-3 hens. The boxes should be about 9-12 inches by 9-12 inches. You will then need to attach a ramp if it is not on the floor. Here is also a very good idea. My friend has about 30 hens and she just has a chain link dog run with about 6 dog igloos inside with bedding inside the dog igloos/houses and they van lay their eggs their and they are free range thoughout the day. She has a long branch off of a tree inside the dog run and that is where they roost. Her hens are very happy! So if you don't want to build a coop you can do that idea. Or you can build a portable coop for small amounts of chickens called a chicken tractor.
2. Keep it as dry as possible so germs can't reproduce and cause infections. Also if youre going to need a few skinny long windows ( facing east )at the top so that a little sunlight can get in too. Ventilation and fresh air is important into the loft but drafts ( strong wind ) is not good. To get good ventilation without the drafts is to partially cover the little vents at the bottom so that wind cannot force its way straight in. Only gently. Remember to use good mesh on any open vents to keep out predators. Skinny long vents (opennings about 4inches high and 2-3 + feet long) at the lower parts of the wall, with a skinny long roof ( or a piece of long skinny board )that slopes down on the crack (like a roof ) is good enough fresh air & blocks any drafts getting into the coop. Now the next thing is top vents (opennings) so that bad air can escape. When you build your coop try to leave any kind of openning at the higher part of the wall so that bad air can escape.. Remember to also use mesh to cover it from predators. Dark, wet, damp, moist, drafts, & bad ventilation will make your chickens or birds sick. So no leaky roofs, water spills, eggs falling and breaking for germs to have an orgy party & reproduce. Other then that search on internet. Also Google GSE Grapefruit Seed Extract for pets and humans. It works miracles at killing all germs. Goodluck. Bye
3. If you need something you can walk in to clean why not consider a garden shed 6 X 4 feet and add a pop hole, perch and nest boxes. You could build your own shed or shop around for a good price on a new one.
4. Hey Sarina, To build the right type of chicken coop for you, you can find a good blueprint over at http://www.BuildAChickenCoops.com . This shows you everything you need and the exact steps you need to take to build a chicken coop for your 3 chickens (and any more in the future!). I hope I've helped :-) - James.