Build Your Own Chicken Coop

Many people have asked me if they should build a chicken coop or should they buy the ones which are readily available in the market. Building your own chicken coop is lot of fun. There are many advantages of building your own chicken coop.

• There are many prebuilt chicken coops available in the market but that could cost you anywhere from $500 - $1000. Instead it would be very economical to build a chicken coop on your own using chicken coop plans. You can build a coop using half the amount that you would spend in buying a readymade coop.
• It could be a joint affair. You can ask your family members to help you and together you all can build a chicken coop.
• You can build a chicken coop that suits your needs. A readymade chicken coop will not be tailor made for your requirements. Instead with appropriate chicken coop plans you can build a coop that will have all that you need.
• When you build a chicken coop on your own, you will be able to create a suitable warm and relaxed environment for the chickens so that they will lay more eggs.
• You can make provisions for water feeder, and other accessories for the chickens the way you want.
• Appropriate ventilation is very important for the long life of chickens. The readymade coops come with standard provision for ventilation. But, if you build a chicken coop on your own then you can make the required changes. For example if you stay in a cool place then you can have sliding windows or if you stay in a warm place then you can have simple windows. Your coop should be well ventilated and at the same time it should not provide easy access to the predatory animals like cat, dog, fox, etc.,
• You would know what kind of predators you have in your vicinity. Keeping this in mind you can make special provisions to keep you chickens safe, when you build a coop on your own. To give you an example, if there are many rodents in your area then it is advisable to build a chicken coop at an appropriate height.
• Maintaining appropriate temperature in the coop is equally important and if you decide to build a chicken coop on your own, then you can build it according to the climate in which you live.
• Building your first chicken coop will not take much time. If you have all the necessary items like nesting boxes, corrugated iron, water feeder, chicken wire and other things then it’s a matter of few hours.

I am sure by now you would have understood the benefits of building a chicken coop on your own. More than anything else you will have a great sense of satisfaction when you build a chicken coop from scratch on your own.