Green Daily

One of my biggest interests, and one of the biggest topics I bring to the table at GreenDaily is a way to live a more sustainable life through raising your own food free of hormones and chemicals. This includes vegetables and animals, but mainly chickens. This series is an on-going introduction to the wonderful world of raising chickens in a non-rural environment.

Building a coop house for your chickens can be as easy, difficult, cheap or expensive as you want it to be. They basically only require shelter from drafts, protection from predators, somewhere to perch for sleeping and somewhere to lay their eggs. They don't care what color it is, or if it has a shingle roof or a tin one, but these amenities are completely up to you.

When I built my coop, I researched for weeks on the perfect design. I wanted it to be something that was easy to build, large enough for 15-25 full-sized chickens, and cost effective. I settled on a design that matched most of these criteria, but after three years with it, I'm ready to rebuild, based on the lessons I've learned.

My number one issue I have with my simple design is the oversight of an easily-accessible nest area to gather eggs. When you're picking up eggs several times a day, you certainly don't want to be reaching across and straining your back each time. This is when nest boxes with a back door come in very handy.

But not to get ahead of myself, let's start with the basics. You'll need to determine how large of flock you'll have. You'll need to decide if the birds will free-range in your yard, or if they'll have a sectioned-off area of the yard (remember, they eat a ton of vegetation, including flowers, bushes and vegetables in your garden!). Other aspects of the coop are completely optional, such as it matching your house, or if you'd like to make it walk-in or not. The best part is there are hundreds of designs all over the internet for you to browse, from large elaborate multi-leveled houses to rolling chicken tractors.

Regardless of the design and style that you choose for your particular application, there are some basics to remember.

• You'll need about 4.5 sq ft of space for each chicken.
• You'll need one nest box for every 2-3 chickens. Each nest box should be about 12" wide by 15" long by 13" deep.
• You'll need 9" of perch length for each chicken. This should be at a moderately high level in the coop, because chickens enjoy the height, and it will protect from any small animals (like raccoons) who may enter the coop at night. The perch itself should be about 2-3 inches in diameter, so the chickens can grab on and steady themselves during their sleep times. If it's too thin, it runs the risk of breaking, or causing the birds to run their claws into their own feet, creating many health problems.
• The flooring must be easily-cleanable with about 3" of wood shavings covering the bottom. This will need to be changed about once every week or two, depending on the number of birds.
• You'll want to hang feeders and waterers so that they're 6-8 inches off the ground. This will prevent getting contaminates in the food or water, and keep it from being knocked over. This hanging method is only for adult chickens who can reach it.
• Despite the need to protect your chickens from a draft, you will need to provide the coop with proper ventilation to prevent a build-up of fumes or lack of fresh air.
• Don't forget the chicken entrance! You'll need a small door, around 12" tall by 10 inches wide to accommodate the birds traveling in and out of the house. You'll want this door to be about a foot off the ground with a ramp leading up to it.

Thats about it for the basics of coop design. I'm reluctant to get into too much more detail because so much depends on your design, but I hope this overview helps you realize the basics.

Join me for the next installment of this series where I will cover nesting and egg-laying practices, and how to prevent an Easter Egg hunt in your backyard every day.