DIY Chicken Coop Tips

Getting started on a DIY chicken coop is a wonderful idea. You want to perfect the design before you even think of getting started on building it. A DIY chicken coop project can be relatively easy and a whole lot of fun as long as you know what you’re doing. For one thing you’re going to want to make one of your first decisions how much square footage this coop is going to end up.


This is important because all other aspects of the coop have to be based around this decision. It should be smaller sized but large enough that the chickens will have room to run around in and won’t be squashed up against each other. The most important thing is that the chickens are all going to have enough room to move around without walking into one another. Lighting is also important for any DIY chicken coop project, and one of the best ideas is to have the lighting installed with a timer.


Particularly during the winter months when sunlight is scarce, lighting will be incredibly important. Having the lighting set to go on and off at specific times during the day will be a great convenience to you and save you a lot of hassle. This will also save with energy costs and help with egg production during the winter months. There are lots of other extra details you can have included in your design, such as a built-in heater.


Living in a more urban area can create dangers for chickens, which is why when you’re creating the design you need to make sure that the walls are extra high. The walls will need to be higher than that of a regular coop because the last thing you want is to have any chickens escape and end up getting onto the road. The number of nest boxes you should have per hen is five. Make sure that there’s enough room between birds in your design, typically about 6-10 inches of roosting space per bird.


Hens don’t like to be kept too close when they’re roosting and having space between them will keep them from fighting. Make sure that your design is completely finished before worrying about buying any supplies. Besides that, if anytime down the line anything needs fixing there won’t be anyone better for the job than you. Once the design is finished you can get to start on buying materials and building the coop.