The Complete Guide to Backyard Chicken Coops for Beginners and Pros

Do you have chickens? Or do you wish you had any? Chickens in the backyard are an enjoyable experience for getting fresh eggs on a daily basis. With proper chicken housing, your chickens will be healthy and comfortable. Let’s look at all that we need to consider when choosing chicken housing.

What Is a Chicken Coop?

A chicken coop is a specifically designed structure that provides shelter for your flock against wild animals, unfavourable weather conditions, and evening colds. This building provides a comfortable, dry place for sleeping, laying eggs, and resting during the daytime.

There are several elements in a properly assembled enclosure for chickens that satisfy the natural desires of birds. High places to roost, such as elevated bars, allow them to rest in elevated places and stay away from the ground during the night. Dark boxes provide comfortable and calm places where hens can lay their eggs safely and comfortably.

Good ventilation near the roof ensures a constant circulation of fresh air and keeps the harmful effects of moisture, hot air and fumes of ammonia away from this wooden construction.

Types

It all comes down to your backyard space, your budget, and the size of your chickens' flock to pick the right housing system for your hens.

The traditional wood-made stationary chicken coop is fixed in one place in your yard. The main advantages are robust construction, sufficient roominess inside and good insulation for hot summer and winter days.

The mobile chicken tractor consists of wheels or a lightweight frame, which lets you move the whole house across your lawn every day to give your birds new grass to peck at and fertilise your backyard evenly.

A-frame houses have a simple triangular design uniting the top sleeping place with the open ground floor for roaming below. This type is cheap, small, and ideal for keeping 2-3 hens in a suburban backyard.

How to Choose

Getting the best possible set-up in terms of your birds’ housing means thinking about a few things carefully before your final choice of purchase.

The first thing to consider is space. This one is a basic requirement – every bird should have three or four square feet of living  enclosure for chickens

space and at least ten square feet of outdoor run space. Overcrowded chickens become stressed and start feather pecking at each other.

Next comes predator security, since your birds would not survive without it. Make sure the wire mesh protecting the run is made from heavy galvanised hardware cloth and not chicken wire that foxes can rip down easily. Also, make sure that all the access doors are equipped with sophisticated locks that a raccoon or fox cannot shake loose.

A weather-resistant design would ensure comfortable accommodation all year round. Look for a design with a slanted asphalt roof to prevent rainwater accumulation and weatherproof timber walls.

Lastly, ease of cleaning would help you to save yourself a lot of time with your weekly chores. It’s good if the coop has removable dropping trays, wide side doors and hinged nesting boxes.

Maintenance

Daily cleaning takes only a few minutes in the morning. Make sure that there is clean water and fresh food available, harvest fresh eggs from the nesting boxes, and remove any fresh droppings from the main ramp or entrance.

The weekly chores should be related to bedding management inside the sleeping space. Remove any moistened wood shavings or straw from underneath the roosting bars and add new and dry bedding materials to maintain low humidity levels.

The monthly cleaning procedure is aimed at maintaining healthy living conditions for your chickens. Scrub down the roosting bars, clean out all bedding material completely, and wipe the wooden walls with some safe disinfectant or a vinegar solution.

Check the outer metal netting and timber frame for any damage or worn-out places. Timely repairs will ensure that any predators cannot enter your coop.

Accessories

The automatic coop doors work using either timer settings or light sensor settings, opening up the doors at sunrise and closing at dusk. This ensures that your birds are safe inside no matter whether you are late at work or wish to sleep in on weekends.

Treadle feeders are designed so that the chickens need to step on a platform to release the feed in a grain hopper. This ingenious design ensures that no wild birds, mice, or rats can access your expensive feed or contaminate it with diseases.

The gravity waterers with nipples or cups offer a constant source of clean and unpolluted water. Mounting these devices away from the ground ensures that chickens cannot scratch any dirt, straw, or excrement into their water bowl.

To entertain chickens during cold days of winter, there are special chicken swings, peck toys, and cabbage hangers. Giving the birds entertaining things will help prevent such undesirable behaviours as plucking feathers or egg eating.

Building a high-quality chicken coop is definitely the best way for you to have a wonderful experience raising your healthy chickens in your backyard. You will get delicious eggs every day if you give your chickens a comfortable shelter and proper care. Choose the perfect chicken coop for your backyard now!