Tips For Building Ideal Chicken Coops In Your Backyard

Chicken coops need to meet the needs of both the chickens and the chicken rancher – you! Be sure the chickens are comfortable. Give them enough room to move around and spread their wings. Relaxed, unworried chickens will give you more eggs, so give them as much of a normal, stress-free life as you can.

Providing more space also helps them feel normal by encouraging their instinct to peck at the ground. Spreading some feed in the morning can also help encourage the natural pecking instinct.

Providing a nesting area that is both safe and comfortable will ensure excellent egg production. The size and shape of your nesting box will be based on your local weather patterns. Ask around and find out what type of box your neighbors have built. Whatever design you settle on, make sure their is plenty of space to lay eggs. Several hen chickens may use the same nest, but they can also be very picky and want their own space. Their main priority is to make sure their chicks will hatch in a warm, protected environment. Keep the nesting area away from the hustle and bustle of the feeding trough.

Give your chickens cut straw or some hay to mimic what they might find in the wild. Fluffy sawdust can work too, but try to avoid wood chips. Young chicks often mistake it for their food; eating too much wood can kill them. For mature chickens, however, wood chips can be a possible choice.

Then there is your own ease of use. The coop gets a lot of visits and you are going to have to carry a lot of eggs, so make sure you make them easy to collect. Making it easier on you also means you disturb your chickens less and that means less stress for them. Remember, the less they are stressed, the more eggs they will lay. A hinged lid on the nesting box is an elegant, simple solution. Or leave the nesting area open and collect from the front. Just be sure you don’t make it so big that you cannot easily reach the back corners.

Chickens want to be protected from the elements and also from predators. A strong roof that keeps off the rain and good walls that keep out the wind are necessary. If it gets really cold where you live, make sure you put a heat lamp in the nesting area. Design alone will give the chickens a feeling of security, but you can add to it by placing the coop in an area that is quiet and does not get a lot of traffic.

Now you are ready to go out and build your own coop. Safe secure chicken coops are the secret to happy chickens and happy chickens are the secret to getting more eggs.