Building Chicken Coops For Dummies E-Book

Todd Brock

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 475

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

As the popularity of urban homesteading and sustainable livingincreases, it's no wonder you're in need of trusted,practical guidance on how to properly house the chickensyou're planning (or have already begun) to keep. BuildingChicken Coops For Dummies gives you the information you need tobuild the most cost-efficient, safe, and easy-on-the-eye enclosuresfor your backyard flock. This practical guide gives you easy-to-follow and customizableplans for building the backyard chicken coop that works best foryou. You'll get the basic construction know-how and keyinformation you need to design and build a coop tailored to yourflock, whether you live in a small city loft, a suburban backyard,or a small rural farm. * Includes detailed material lists, instructions, and schematicplans for building a host of different chicken coops * Step-by-step guidance on how to build a coop--or designyour own * Accessible for every level of reader Whether you're just beginning to gain an interest in aback-to-basics lifestyle or looking to add more attractive andefficient coops to your current flock's digs, BuildingChicken Coops For Dummies gives you everything you need tobuild a winning coop!

Leseprobe

Building Chicken Coops For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: All Cooped Up

Part II: Constructing a Coop

Part III: Checking Out Coop Plans

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: All Cooped Up

Chapter 1: Flocking to Your Own Chicken Coop

Understanding the Basics of Housing

Looking at the Gear You’ll Need

Choosing Coop Materials

Getting Up to Speed on Carpentry

Constructing a Coop: The Nuts and Bolts

Readying the site

Framing

Putting up walls, a roof, and more

Adding special touches

Building a run

Hooking up electricity

Checking Out a Few Coop Designs

Chapter 2: Beginning with Housing Basics

Providing Basic Benefits with Your Coop

Analyzing the Anatomy of a Coop

Making Your Coop Convenient for You

Selecting Your Coop’s Location and Size

Before you begin: Considering zoning and covenant concerns

Looking at proximity to houses

Utilizing utilities

Digging into drainage issues

Understanding that yes, size matters

Choosing a Coop to Fit Your Needs (and Skills)

A-frames and hoops

Chicken tractors

All-in-one coops

Walk-in coops

Chapter 3: Gathering Your Gear

Putting Safety First with Essential Equipment

Digging Up Dirt on Garden Tools

Measuring and Marking Lumber for Your Coop

Measuring up tape measures

Making your mark

Sizing Up Saws and Supports

Putting In Posts

Digging postholes

Setting the posts

Mixing and pouring concrete

Framing Your Coop

Honing in on hammers

Nailing it with a nail gun

Pressing a screw gun into service

Leveling and Squaring As You Build

Just level with me

It’s hip to be square

Working with Wire

Cutting wire

Fastening wire

Checking Out Other Miscellaneous Tools

Chapter 4: Deciding on Materials

Before You Shop: Considering Recycled Materials

Lumbering Through Boards for Your Build

Sizing boards

Figuring out what type of board to buy

Knowing what to look for in a board

Shopping for Sheet Goods

Sizing sheet goods

Checking out plywood and OSB

Steering clear of certain sheet goods

Getting Attached to Fasteners

Notes about nails

Stuff about screws

Figuring Out Flooring

Wondering About Walls

Getting to the Root of Roofing

Researching Your Run

Finding your fencing

Picking your posts

Adding It Up: Estimating the Amount of Materials You Need

Chapter 5: Building Your Carpentry Skills

Measuring and Marking Materials

Reading the tale of your tape

“V” marks the spot, and “X” marks the trash

Chalk it up

Cutting Wood Safely

Selecting saw blades

Cutting board lumber

Cutting sheet goods

Assembling Materials

Nailing it down

Screwing it in place

Joining Pieces at Tricky Angles

Toe-nailing

Pocket hole joinery

Plates

Using Levels and Squares

Carpenter’s level

Specialty levels

Speed squares

Part II: Constructing a Coop

Chapter 6: Preparing the Site

First Things First: Clearing the Site

Checking the Level of the Ground

Installing Posts in the Ground

Digging holes for footings

Bracing your posts

Mixing and pouring concrete

Securing Posts Aboveground

Mounting posts on top of concrete footings

Using concrete pier blocks

Topping Your Posts

Chapter 7: Laying the Lumber: Framing 101

Building a Subfloor

Framing the joists

Installing the decking

Framing the Walls

Laying out studs

Assembling wall panels on the ground

Framing Doors and Windows

The extra parts needed to frame doors and windows

Walking through extra framing steps

Raising the Wall

Fastening Walls Together

Framing the Roof

Getting the pitch perfect

Analyzing a roof’s anatomy

Building a roof frame

Cutting and attaching rafters

Chapter 8: Adding Walls, Doors, Windows, and a Roof

Putting Up Walls

Fastening plywood in place

Cutting out openings

Working with other materials

Building a Basic Shed Door

Making Your Own Window

Topping Off Your Coop with a Roof

Hanging out your shingles

Conquering corrugated panels

Venting Your Coop

Chapter 9: Building Creature Comforts

Finalizing Your Flooring

Coming Home to (a) Roost

Location, location, location

Roost requirements: Making your roost out of different materials

Securing and supporting your roost

Feathering a Nest Box

Designing nest boxes

Building nest boxes

Other options: Buying or repurposing nest boxes

Ramping Up

Chapter 10: Assembling a Run

Framing a Simple Run

Working with Wire Mesh

Sizing up, measuring, and cutting the wire

Fastening the wire to your posts

Adding even more wire

Chapter 11: Plugged In: Basic Electricity for Your Coop

Calling a Pro to Run a Line to Your Coop

Buzzing About Outlets versus Switches

Receptacles (also known as outlets)

Switches

Letting There Be Light

Deciding whether to include artificial light in your coop

Properly placing the right amount of lighting in your coop

Choosing fixtures

Warming Up to Heaters

Falling for Fans

Part III: Checking Out Coop Plans

Chapter 12: The Minimal Coop

Vital Stats

Materials List

Cut List

Shelter floor

Front wall

Back wall

Right and left walls

Roof framing

Nest boxes

Assembling the Coop

Chapter 13: The Alpine A-Frame

Vital Stats

Materials List

Cut List

Shelter floor

Gable 1 (nest box side)

Gable 2 (run side, interior)

Gable 2 (run side, exterior) with run door

Roof panel 1 (fixed side)

Roof panel 2 (hinged door)

Nest boxes

Roost

Run panel 1

Run panel 2 with door

Run gable

Assembling the Coop

Chapter 14: The Urban Tractor

Vital Stats

Materials List

Cut List

Tractor base and shelter floor

Left wall

Right wall

Front wall

Rear wall and chicken door

Run posts and framing

Cap plate and roof rafters

Roof, fascia, and gables

Access door

Nest boxes

Run door and chicken ramp

Assembling the Coop

Chapter 15: The All-in-One

Vital Stats

Materials List

Cut List

Skids and floor skirting

Shelter floor

Right wall framing

Front wall framing

Left wall framing

Back wall framing

Exterior wall sheathing

Run framing

Roof framing and rafters

Roof, gables, and fascia

Shelter access door and slam strips

Chicken door, slam strips, and ramp

Nest boxes and roost bar

Nest box door and slam strips

Front wall trim

Back wall trim

Right wall trim

Left wall trim

Run access door

Assembling the Coop

Chapter 16: The Walk-In

Vital Stats

Materials List

Cut List

Skids and floor

Front wall framing

Back wall framing

Right wall framing

Left wall framing

Front wall sheathing and trim

Back wall sheathing

Right and left wall sheathing and trim

Roof rafters

Gable ends and soffits

Roof, gable overhangs, and fascia

Access door

Chicken door

Nest box door

Nest boxes

Roost

Assembling the Coop

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Ten or So Things Novice Coop-Builders Would Have Done Differently

Make the Coop Bigger

Make the Coop Taller

Consider the Location More Carefully

Don’t Cheap Out on Materials

Use Screws Rather than Nails

Elevate the Coop Off the Ground

Make the Doors Wider

Consider How to Clean the Coop

Make the Nest Box Easily Accessible

Paint the Coop Before Assembly

Reinforce the Run Underground

Chapter 18: Ten or So Cool Ideas to Trick Out Your Coop

Electricity

Solar Power

Running Water

Storage Space

A Quarantine Area

An Automatic Feeder and Waterer

A Removable Droppings Pan

Wheels

A Retractable Roof

“Air-Lock” Doors

Automatic Door Closers

A Wireless Weather Station

Building Chicken Coops For Dummies®

by Todd Brock, Dave Zook and Rob Ludlow

Building Chicken Coops For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010929412

ISBN: 978-0-470-59896-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Todd Brock has written, directed, and produced more than 1,000 episodes of television programming. His shows on topics ranging from landscaping to home renovations to gardening have been broadcast nationally on major networks including HGTV, DIY Network, and PBS, and locally in one of the country’s Top 10 TV markets.

As a freelance writer, Todd has researched and written about everything from mobsters to Pac-Man, and children’s stories to cheeseburgers. He lives in the Atlanta, Georgia, area with his wife, Debbie, and their two daughters, Sydney and Kendall.

Dave Zook, his wife, Suz, and their four children, Justin, Jordan, Jenika, and Javon, live on several acres in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He is the founder/owner of Horizon Structures, a manufacturer of pre-built storage sheds, garages, horse barns, and chicken coops.

Dave and his family keep a small flock of chickens at home in one of his company’s coops. He continues to improve the designs and develop new ones based on customer input as well as his family’s experiences with their own backyard flock.

Over the past nine years, Horizon’s line of chicken coops has proven to be very popular with chicken fanciers — and their hens — throughout the U.S., with coops now in 48 states!

Rob Ludlow, his wife, Emily, and their two beautiful daughters, Alana and April, are the perfect example of the suburban family with a small flock of backyard chickens. Like countless others, what started out as a fun hobby raising a few egg-laying machines has almost turned into an addiction.

Originally, Rob started posting his chicken experiences on his hobby Web site, www.Nifty-Stuff.com, but after realizing how much his obsession was growing, he decided to concentrate his efforts into a site devoted completely to the subject. Now Rob owns and manages www.backyardchickens.com, the largest and fastest-growing community of chicken enthusiasts in the world.

Rob is also the coauthor of the book Raising Chickens For Dummies.

Dedication

Todd Brock: I dedicate this book to Debbie, Sydney, and Kendall — the three crazy chickens living in my coop.

Dave Zook: Thanks to my wonderful wife, Suz, and to my kids, Justin, Jordan, Jenika, and Javon, for your patience, sacrifice, and help as I studied and got the details together for this book.

Rob Ludlow: To Mom, Dad, and my five older siblings for supporting me in the very diverse areas of my life that range from Web site design to raising backyard chickens.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Todd Brock: Thanks to my project editor, Georgette Beatty, for guiding me through my first For Dummies book, to copy editor Christy Pingleton for cleaning up my messes, and to acquisitions editor Mike Baker for entrusting the project to me in the first place. Special recognition goes to technical reviewer Terry Schmitt and to the composition staff for working tirelessly to proofread and lay out this book. Precision Graphics did an incredible job in creating the art for the coop plans, and Wiley’s graphics department is credited with producing the rest of the superb art in these chapters. To my coauthors Rob and Dave, thanks for graciously answering all my dumb questions along the way. Finally, my sincerest gratitude goes to Lindsay Lefevere for bringing me into the Dummies fold to begin with.

Dave Zook: I want to thank my team at Horizon Structures — especially Matt and Dan — for all the time-consuming, and often tedious, work involved in gathering all the details, sketching the coops, and making sure everything was perfect for this book. Thanks to Jill for your good ideas on coop designs and your work on getting the information about our coops out to the public. Thanks also to Todd Brock, Mike Baker and Georgette Beatty from Wiley, and Rob Ludlow from BackYardChickens.com for everything you did to make all of this possible.

Rob Ludlow: Thanks to my church leaders, family, friends, and Boy Scout leaders for teaching me how to build “stuff.” Thanks also to Mike Baker for putting up with my endless questions and suggestions, and to the thousands of BackYardChickens.com community members who continue to show me how amazingly simple or complex, plain or ornate, and cheap or expensive a chicken coop can be!

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Senior Project Editor: Georgette Beatty

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Mike Baker

Copy Editor: Christine Pingleton

Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Senior Editorial Assistant: David Lutton

Technical Editor: Terry Schmitt

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistant: Jennette ElNaggar

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photo: Dave Zook

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Karl Brandt, Timothy C. Detrick, Joyce Haughey, Mark Pinto

Special Art: Precisiongraphics.com

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Betty Kish

Indexer: Cheryl Duksta

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Which came first: the chicken or the coop? Did you get into raising your own chickens because you were lured by the idea of “free” farm-fresh eggs or swayed by your kids’ desire for a few cute little fluffballs scratching about in the backyard, and only then realize that you need a place for them to actually live? Or are you just now thinking of getting into chickens and estimating housing costs as part of your research, knowing that you’d better have a proper shelter ready to go before you come home with a box full of chicks? Whichever came first for you, the desire to adopt chickens or the need to provide them with a coop, welcome.

Chicken owners are a particularly self-reliant and improvisational bunch. It’s about making do and adapting. You get paid back in eggs — the equivalent of just a few bucks a month — so the vast majority of caretakers go to great lengths to keep chicken-keeping a low-cost hobby. The whole endeavor is meant to make you just a little more self-sufficient; why spend gobs of cash to do it in the first place?

Maybe that helps explain why so many chicken folks build their own coops. Sure, you can purchase a pre-built shelter for your birds (and some awfully nice ones at that), but for many, that goes against the whole reason they got into hens to begin with. Why pay for something that you can provide for yourself? And if you’re clever enough and self-sufficient enough to see the benefits of raising chickens, you can indeed build your own chicken coop.

About This Book

Do some nosing around about building your own chicken coop, and you’re likely to come away a little frustrated. Lots of books pontificate about how easy it is to build a working coop. Countless Web sites offer photos of shelters and first-hand accounts of the building process from the caretakers. But what almost none of them offer is instruction on how to do it, a soup-to-nuts guide for the marginally-handy homeowner on what a coop needs, why it needs those things, and how to actually build it yourself.

You can find all the answers you need in this easy-to-digest book. And you don’t have to read it cover-to-cover. Need a quick overview of chicken coops in general? You don’t have to wade through instructions on how to frame a roof to get it. Looking for a rundown of building materials to consider? It’s not lumped in with step-by-step directions for constructing a chicken run. Topics are broken down into separate sections and covered in just the right amount of detail.

And in Part III of this book, you find something that no one else will give you: complete building plans for not one, not two, but five different chicken coops. They vary in size and shape, and each has its own unique features that make it special, but everything you need to construct each one of them is right there: a detailed list of what to buy, exact specs on how to cut the lumber, and precise assembly instructions.

A chicken coop seems to constantly evolve over its lifespan. It’s always a work in progress. We hope this book becomes a valuable reference tool for you, even after your coop is built and your chickens have moved in. There’s plenty of good advice in here on a number of issues that come up for every caretaker, and a wealth of ideas for making your “perfect” chicken coop even better.

Conventions Used in This Book

Before we get started, you should be aware of a few certain conventions — that is, standard formatting techniques — that were used in the printing of this book:

Bold text is used to highlight the keywords in bulleted lists (like we just did right there at the beginning of this sentence). We also use it to highlight the action part of numbered steps.

When we introduce a new term, we put it in italics the first time and follow it up with a simple definition. We also use italics to add emphasis.

All Web site addresses appear in monofont to make them stand out.

Sometimes, an address may break across two lines of text. If this happens, know that we have not included any extra characters (like hyphens) to indicate that break. Type the address into your browser exactly as it appears, pretending that the line break doesn’t even exist.

We feature a lot of measurements and numerical notations. Just a reminder: Feet are sometimes expressed with a single quotation mark, as in 8’. Double quotations marks signify inches, like 16”. And when discussing board lumber, the letter “x” is an abbreviation for the word “by,” like when we refer to a 2x4.

We used 12d and 7d nails to build our coops, so that’s what we reference in this book. But some areas of the country may see different sizes more commonly stocked in stores and used on job sites. If you have trouble finding 12d and 7d nails in your region, feel free to substitute 16d and 8d nails, respectively.

What You’re Not to Read

Skimmers, rejoice. Not every single word in this book is absolutely necessary for you to read in order to come away with a working knowledge of how to build your own chicken coop. Sometimes we include a funny story or fascinating bit of trivia just to provide you with some interesting dinner-table conversation. Those things are put in what we call sidebars — gray boxes filled with text. Skip them if you want, but don’t come crying to us if you make it on a game show someday and lose in the final lightning round.

And while we’ve tried to keep this book as accessible and easy-to-understand as possible, sometimes we had to get just a bit technical. These places are marked with a “Technical Stuff” icon, and while they may offer in-depth background information, they’re not packed with make-or-break details that will ruin your coop if you don’t commit them to memory.

Foolish Assumptions

Our mothers told us never to assume, but we’ve ignored that bit of advice. (As well as the one about waiting a half-hour between eating and swimming. That one’s just dumb.) In trying to tailor this book to you, we’ve had to make some assumptions about who you are. Here’s what we think:

You either already own chickens or are seriously considering owning chickens to house on your own property.

You already know enough about raising chickens that we don’t have to spend time on the choosing, feeding, and caring of a flock. If you’re new to chickens or simply want a great reference guide that deals with these issues, check out Raising Chickens For Dummies by Kimberly Willis and Rob Ludlow (Wiley).

You are either a somewhat-competent DIYer (do-it-yourselfer) or eager enough to learn some basic skills that the idea of constructing your own chicken coop is within your abilities. You don’t have to be a highly-skilled craftsman or own a workshop full of top-end tools, but you should know which end of a hammer to hold and have a basic level of carpentry knowledge. If you need to call a handyman to hang a picture, constructing your own coop may be a bit of a stretch for you.

You should be familiar with schematic drawings and how to build from them (we also include step-by-step instructions to round out the instruction you get from the schematics).

You’re not looking to become a commercial chicken farmer who needs to build an industrial-size coop. The largest coop we provide plans for can accommodate 30 birds, and the advice we offer throughout the book pertains to the backyard chicken-keeper.

How This Book Is Organized

We’ve tried to compartmentalize all the information in this book in a logical and organized way, to help you quickly find the piece of info you need. This allows you to dive head-first into a single particular topic and then go back to whatever you were doing. But you can also read the book straight through from front to back if you prefer.

Think of it like a multiple-course meal: If you want to sit down and start with the soup and salad, move on to the appetizer, fill up on the main entrée and accompanying side dishes, finish with a nice dessert, and top it off with a fancy cheese or cup of coffee, go right ahead. But if all you’re looking for is just a quick bite of cake, we’ve arranged it so you can get that, too.

The book features four parts, with several chapters in each part. Each chapter is broken down into smaller, more digestible sections that are easily identified by headings in bold type.

Part I: All Cooped Up

These chapters take a broad-view approach to what you need to know in order to start the coop-building process. Chapter 2 looks at the basics: what a chicken coop should provide, what it needs from a location, and how a few common coop styles stack up. Chapter 3 is your primer on the tools you’ll need, Chapter 4 runs down some popular building materials, and Chapter 5 helps you hone your skills by teaching some solid carpentry techniques.

Part II: Constructing a Coop

This part breaks down the building of a coop into phases. Truth be told, though, the info here doesn’t apply only to chicken coops. This is solid how-to knowledge that you could put to use in building a toolshed, garden hut, greenhouse, playhouse, or potting shed.

Chapter 6 is all about prepping the site, whether that means just clearing away some yard debris or digging post holes and pouring concrete footings for an elevated structure. In Chapter 7, you tackle framing: the subfloor; the stud walls, doorways, and window openings; even roof rafters. Chapter 8 adds exterior walls, build-your-own door and window units, and a roof. We get into chicken-specific elements in Chapter 9: building a roost bar, constructing nest boxes, and adding a ramp at the door. We review runs in Chapter 10 and spark some thoughts about adding electricity to your coop in Chapter 11.

Part III: Checking Out Coop Plans

This part features five unique coops and gives detailed instructions on how to build each one. We start with a quick, at-a-glance look at each coop’s main advantages, and then provide you with a complete list of building materials, exact directions on how to cut all the lumber, and step-by-step guidance on assembling the pieces. And it’s all accompanied by easy-to-read illustrations that act as helpful visual aids in the building process.

Chapter 12 offers a small coop that can be built with an absolute minimum of materials, effort, and cost. We believe it to be the simplest coop in existence. Chapter 13 features an A-frame coop that includes a run. Chapter 14’s tractor coop is meant to be relocated from spot to spot in the yard. In Chapter 15, we give you a small, all-in-one coop that you can still walk into yourself. Need more room for a large flock? Turn to Chapter 16, where our biggest coop can house up to 30 birds, yet is still easy enough for a beginner to build.

Part IV: The Part of Tens

A For Dummies staple, the Part of Tens includes some extra takeaway info that just doesn’t fit anywhere else in the book. In Chapter 17, we tell you what people who have already built a coop would do differently so that you can learn from their experiences. Chapter 18 gives you some fun wish-list items that can be added later to make your chicken-raising hobby easier, less messy, and more enjoyable.

Icons Used in This Book

Every For Dummies book features a collection of icons, special graphic symbols set off in the margins that call your attention to key pieces of information. This book uses the following icons:

Remember icons point out info that should be retained for later use. If you take away anything at all from this book, it should be the information marked with this icon.

Technical Stuff icons spotlight nerdy background info or otherwise technical talk. It may or may not interest you, and skipping it should have no bearing on your coop-building adventure. (But it’s great party-conversation material!)

Tips are extra scraps of info or advice. Some help you with a certain skill, tool, or technique. Some offer guidance on a specific building material or practice. Others simply provide food for thought. They’re designed to save you money, time, or hassle. Maybe even all three.

Warning icons are vitally important, because they deal with something that’s potentially dangerous or harmful. Safety should be a primary concern in any building project; this icon warrants special attention and should never be skipped over.

Where to Go from Here

This book isn’t linear — meaning you don’t have to read the whole thing from start to finish. Feel free to jump around as your needs, questions, and interests dictate. But here are a few suggestions:

If you’re just starting from scratch on your chicken career (yes, that was a deliberate pun; we do that a lot), you may want to turn the page and start with Chapter 1 for a brief overview of what a chicken coop needs to provide and what you need to consider as you decide on one for your flock.

If you’re ready to start thinking about what materials you might want to pick up from the hardware store so you can start building, flip to Chapter 4.

If you’d like a basic tutorial or a refresher course on some good, solid carpentry skills that you’ll use throughout the build, skip to Chapter 5.

If the delivery truck just dropped off a load of lumber and you’re not sure where to begin, try Chapter 7 for framing assistance.

If you want to get right to checking out the building plans, they appear in Part III.

Part I

All Cooped Up

In this part . . .

These chapters lay the groundwork for you to construct your own chicken coop. Chapter 1 provides a quick overview of the entire book. In Chapter 2, we deal with logistical issues like what your coop needs to have and where it should go, and we also look at some popular coop styles.

Use Chapter 3 as a guide to the various tools you need to build your coop. As you wade through the various building materials that are available, consult Chapter 4 for our thoughts on what’s best. Finally, Chapter 5 puts it all together by walking you through the carpentry skills you have to perform to make your coop a reality.

Chapter 1

Flocking to Your Own Chicken Coop

In This Chapter

Thinking through coop basics

Looking at tools and building materials

Constructing your coop step-by-step

Deciding on a coop style

Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.” A lovely sentiment? Yes. A bit overly dramatic? Perhaps at first glance, until you consider who said it. That quote is attributed to none other than Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous and celebrated architect in American history. Thinking about a “chicken house” a little differently now?

You obviously take the idea of a chicken coop more seriously than most, or you wouldn’t have picked up this book. While we’ve packed the chapters that follow with everything you need to know about how to design and construct your own coop, this chapter serves as your crash course in what you need to know to build a chicken house that even Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud of.

Understanding the Basics of Housing

A chicken coop is, at its most basic and fundamental, a shelter for your birds. It can be Spartan in its simplicity, a modest or even crude structure that serves its intended purpose but will never make the cover of Better Coops and Gardens. Or it can be grand and elaborate, intricately designed, and built from the finest materials, featuring all the bells and whistles imaginable.

While the aesthetics may mean a great deal to you and your family as you embark on your coop-building adventure, the chickens, quite frankly, couldn’t give a cluck. To your birds, a new chicken coop needs only to have a few select things going for it. These basics are explored more in-depth in Chapter 2 and throughout this book, but here’s a quick list of what you need to consider before you start building a coop or settle on a specific design:

Shelter: Even wild chickens take cover when the weather turns nasty. If you’re going to keep chickens in your suburban backyard, you have to give them a place where they can find shelter from rain, wind, and cold.

Protection: Humans aren’t the only carnivores who enjoy a finger-lickin’ good chicken dinner every now and again. A primary requirement of any coop is that it effectively offers protection from predators.

Space: We say it often in this book because it’s a golden rule to always keep in mind: Your coop should provide 2 to 4 square feet of floor space for each bird you keep.

Lighting: Chickens need around 14 hours of sunlight every day. They aren’t always able to get all of it outdoors. Whether it’s via a window, a door, or a skylight, your coop needs to allow some light inside.

Ventilation: Chickens poop. Often. Wherever they happen to be when nature calls. The coop will get stinky. You can’t prevent that, but you must exhaust that ammonia-saturated air for the health of you and your birds.

Cleanliness: Once again, chickens poop. The coop will get messy. You need to think through how you, their caretaker, will take care of that dirty job on a regular basis.

Looking at the Gear You’ll Need

We’ll be honest: You don’t have to construct your own coop. Lots of great companies are out there who will deliver one in any size you need, ready for your flock to move into straight off the truck. Or you can easily hire a local builder, contractor, or handyman to erect one for you. The only tool you need for these options is a major credit card.

But many chicken owners love the challenge, the considerable cost savings, and the hands-on involvement of building their own coop. (We’re guessing that at least one of these things appeals to you, too, or you wouldn’t be reading this book.)

Building your own chicken coop may not be as easy as placing an order for a prefab unit, but it’s not as difficult as you probably think, either. You don’t necessarily need a garage full of professional-grade specialty gear (although a few strategically-chosen power tools can make the work easier, quicker, and more fun). We dive into tools in Chapter 3, but here’s a brief checklist of the stuff you really need to have if you want to build your own chicken coop:

Safety gear: Gloves, goggles, earplugs, and a tool belt keep you in the backyard building a coop and raising chickens instead of racing to the emergency room.

Garden tools: If your coop site is currently occupied by a flower bed or a years-old pile of yard debris, you’ll need to do some clearing. A rake and a shovel should suffice in most instances. A mattock (which we cover in more detail in Chapter 3) can chop through buried tree roots.

Tape measure and pencil: Without these essential items, you’re just guessing at how long a piece of lumber is or where you need to cut it.

Saw: Pick your poison — from circular saws to jigsaws, reciprocating saws to table saws, miter saws to handsaws, there are dozens of ways to cut a piece of wood. You’d better have at least one that you feel completely comfortable and fairly adept with.

Tools for putting in posts: You may need to dig a few postholes, either for anchoring timber posts that support an elevated walk-in coop or for the fence posts that define your coop’s chicken run. If postholes are in your future, have a posthole digger or a power auger at the ready. (You’ll probably also need a wheelbarrow and a long-handled tool like a shovel for mixing up and pouring concrete.)

Hammer: The most basic tool of them all is still the one that most coop-builders use most often. Find one you’ll be able to swing all day long (but also consider a pneumatic nail gun!).

Drill: Whether you use it to drive screws or to bore small pilot holes, a powerful drill (preferably with multiple torque settings) is often the only tool that can do the job at hand.

Level and square: These tools are used in conjunction with one another as you build, to make sure that all your boards and cuts are straight.

Tools for working with wire: Wire mesh is used to enclose a chicken run or, sometimes, to cover gaps on the coop itself. A sturdy pair of tin snips will help you cut the mesh to whatever size and shape you need.

Miscellaneous tools: In addition to the basics already listed, there’s a good chance you’ll also find a need for things like a utility knife, a pair of sawhorses, and a screwdriver.

Choosing Coop Materials

Chicken owners, by nature, seem to be scroungers, savers, and scavengers. Chicken coops, as a result, are often constructed out of a potpourri of materials — old wooden pallets broken down into individual boards, leftover plywood from a past renovation, mismatched paint from half-empty cans in the basement, spare parts and pieces accumulated over time. These recycled and repurposed one-of-a-kind coops lend each henhouse an improvised, personal touch and are part of what makes raising backyard chickens such a fascinating hobby for so many.

But if you’re constructing a coop from scratch, without the benefit of a pre-existing pile of building materials, you have some decisions to make. Chapter 4 takes a long, hard look at the different options you’ll encounter at the lumberyard, building supply center, or neighborhood hardware store. In the meantime, refer to this short list of the basic materials you’ll need to obtain in order to craft a coop of your own:

Board lumber: The framework of almost every coop we’ve ever seen is made up of board lumber. The most common cut is the 2x4, but the slightly smaller 2x3 can help you shave per-board costs and cut down on the coop’s overall bulk and weight. You may need 2x6s for things like floor joists. If you’re elevating your coop off the ground, 4x4s make good corner posts. And thin boards like 1x4s or 1x3s come in handy as trim pieces for doors, windows, and various coop features.

Sheet lumber: If board lumber composes the “skeleton” of the coop, sheet lumber like plywood is often used to create the “skin.” Large pieces (often 4 x 8 feet) come in thin sheets and are used for exterior cladding as well as flooring and roof sheathing.

Fasteners: To put the pieces together, you’ll need either nails or screws. Both have pros and cons, and a vast array of fastener types is available to choose from. Don’t overlook their importance: It would be a shame for your coop to collapse because you cheaped out on the wrong kind of nails.

Flooring materials: Almost all coop owners cover the floor of their shelter with some sort of loose bedding, like pine shavings. But underneath that bedding, many coop floors feature a smooth layer of linoleum (or a similar product) to make cleanup even easier. Some coop setups may utilize a concrete or dirt floor.

Materials for walls: The coop’s solid exterior walls are most often made from sheets of thick plywood, either smooth-surfaced or with vertical grooves to create a paneled look. If you’d like to use a siding product similar to what you’d use on a house, see Chapter 8.

Roofing materials: Shingles are the classic choice for a roof, but many coop-builders use large corrugated panels of metal, fiberglass, or PVC to encourage rainwater to shed away from the coop structure.

Wire mesh: This material is so closely associated with chicken coops that “chicken wire” has become a catchall term that some use to refer to any type of flexible, metal-wire mesh. It’s used primarily to enclose runs or to provide an open-air screen for the windows or doors of a shelter.

Posts: Whether they’re supporting the entire structure of an elevated coop or used in a fencing application on a chicken run, posts need to be beefy enough to support the load. The most popular builder’s choice is 4x4 lumber.

Getting Up to Speed on Carpentry

You don’t have to be Bob Vila (or Ty Pennington, for you younger readers) to construct a quality coop that your chickens will love and you’ll love to show off. But you do need to have a handle on some basic carpentry skills that are instrumental in any building project.

If you’re a do-it-yourself (DIY) rookie or doubt your carpentry skills, take advantage of the years of experience and volumes of knowledge of the employees working the aisles of your local hardware store or home center. They’re usually more than happy to walk you through a specific skill or teach you how to use a certain tool. Some of the larger building supply warehouse stores even hold free clinics on all kinds of how-to topics and let you try out a tool or technique in a safe, supervised environment.

We’ve devoted Chapter 5 of this book to the skills you’ll want to master before kicking off your coop-building project. Take a look at this list to see what you may need to brush up on before the sawdust starts flying. You should know how to

Accurately read your tape measure: Reading the big, fat numbers is easy. But can you differentiate at a glance between 75//8 inches and 711//16 inches? The difference is only the width of this capital F, but it could inspire a few choice words that start with that same letter when two pieces don’t fit together because you guessed wrong.

Precisely mark materials: From making simple slash marks with a pencil to snapping chalk lines, how you mark a piece for cutting usually determines how accurate the cut is. Mark with a “V” for accuracy, and use an “X” to identify scrap ends.

Safely use a saw to cut lumber: Power saws can make short work of a 2x4 or sheet of plywood. But they can also make short work of your index finger or thumb if you’re not careful. Check for obstacles in the saw blade’s path before starting a cut. Understand how to hold a saw, where to look at your workpiece for the best view, and how to stand during the cut to maintain good balance. Always properly support the piece you’re cutting.

Properly use a hammer: Banging a nail flat into a piece of wood is one thing. Gripping the hammer low on the handle and swinging from the elbow instead of the wrist can make it an even easier thing. Toe-nailing a nail into a tight corner or using the claw end to pull out a mistake takes your nailing know-how to a whole different level.

Read a level: A simple carpenter’s level shows whether the piece you’re installing is perfectly horizontal (level) or precisely vertical (plumb), but only if you can interpret what the bubble in the vial is telling you.

Use a square: The speed square is a versatile tool that can lay out straight pencil lines, establish perfect 90-degree angles, and act as a straightedge or cutting guide for your saw. You can also use the etched markings on the angled side to mark an angle — anywhere from 1 to 89 degrees — with ease, an invaluable skill when laying out and cutting roof rafters.

Use a drill: Whether you’re driving wood screws during framing, boring pilot holes in a stubborn piece of lumber, or attaching hardware at project’s end, using a drill is usually as easy as squeezing the trigger. But you should be familiar with your drill’s particular torque settings and other features before embarking on a big building project.

Constructing a Coop: The Nuts and Bolts

The building process, for a chicken coop or anything else, is rarely a quick one. Nor should it be. “Haste makes waste,” as they say, and if you try to hurry your way through coop construction, it’ll almost certainly show in the end. Be realistic about how long the build will take . . . and then add some additional time on the back end for good measure. If you estimate it’ll take you two weekends, plan on a third just in case.

Part II of this book breaks down the build into phases. Not every phase applies to every coop design, so you may be able to skip a phase here or there. But generally speaking, the following sections give you a step-by-step rundown of how to construct your chicken coop.

Coordinating your construction efforts with your chickens’ readiness can be tricky, but considering this factor is critically important. The day you bring home a box of fully-grown adult chickens is not the day to start thinking about what kind of coop you want to build. The ideal scenario is to have your coop built and finished just as your chicks are ready to move in. It doesn’t always work that way, of course, so be sure to make some temporary housing arrangements for your flock before you begin building their permanent housing.

Readying the site

It starts with picking the perfect location, something that Chapter 2 deals with at length. But the ideal spot may be on a rocky portion of uneven ground, underneath a massive tree with an exposed root system and low-hanging branches, or even on a sloping hillside.

If you’re lucky, you’ll have very little site prep to do — maybe just some light debris cleanup, relocating a few plants, or a bit of minor regrading of soil. If you have a nice patch of flat ground, you may not have to do any site prep at all.

But you may need to consult Chapter 6 for a look at how to level the ground using stakes and a string level. On more serious slopes or for a coop that will be elevated on permanent posts, you’ll have to do some heavy lifting. You may need to dig post holes and pour concrete to create footings — concrete pillars buried in the earth that support your structure’s timber legs.

Of course, some chicken coops don’t occupy just one spot in the yard. Many caretakers move their coop from place to place on the property to let the birds work different patches of ground with their pecking and scratching, or just for a change of scenery (yours as well as theirs). While some “tractor” coops are built on heavy skids or with wheels, many smaller coops can also be moved around pretty easily if they’re solidly built to begin with. Of the five coops we provide plans for in Part III, three of them are designed to be portable. Chapter 2 introduces tractor coops and other styles.

Framing

The framing may not be the part of your coop that you’ll see every day as you look out your kitchen window, but it’s quite literally the backbone of your chickens’ housing. The frame is the skeleton that everything else is built on, so if it’s not solid and sound, you may be in for a difficult build and long-term problems with the coop’s stability.

The framing is made up of three basic parts: a floor, walls, and a roof. On all three parts, you typically begin by constructing a network of framing members, most often 2x4s:

The floor: Floor joists provide support for a solid decking material that becomes the floor.

The walls: Vertically-arranged studs provide rigidity for exterior walls; doorways, window openings, and access hatches all have their own stud framing that gives them the strength to stand up to daily use.

The roof: Rafters give solid backing to sheets of roofing material.

Framing is the most basic of carpentry tasks and a great place for the building beginner to practice sawing, hammering, and leveling skills. While being accurate with measurements and cuts is important, most framing is covered up by something else, so absolute perfection is seldom required. (But Chapter 7 has everything you need to know about how to get it as perfect as you possibly can.)

Putting up walls, a roof, and more

After you’ve completed the framing of the coop, you’ll be ready to enclose the shelter with exterior surfaces. Chapter 8 details the ins and outs of adding walls, doors, windows, a roof, and ventilation to your coop. Here are some basics:

Walls: Plywood is the wall material of choice for most coop-builders, but different kinds of siding can be used instead (although some have their own specific framing requirements).

Doors: Nearly every coop has to have some kind of access door — for humans, chickens, or both. The majority of coop-builders choose to build their own door from scratch, using the same general framing and cladding skills that they’ve demonstrated up to this point in the build. This allows the DIYer to custom-make a door that perfectly fits not only the opening in the coop, but the way it will be used day in and day out.

Windows: When it comes to windows, some people like to keep it super-simple by fastening wire mesh over an opening for a permanent screen effect. Many folks build mini-doors or hatches that can be propped open or latched closed. Others use actual window units like you have in your own house; many of these were once working house windows, now recycled for a second life in a coop.

A roof: First and foremost, a roof must keep the interior of the shelter dry. Plywood sheathing and asphalt shingles do the job for most coops, although corrugated panels offer some nice benefits that appeal to many chicken-owners.

Vents: Ventilation is often built into the roof structure by way of ridge vents or the fancier cupola, but many coops add simple vents into the shelter walls to help stale, stinky air escape the confines of the coop.

Adding special touches

At this point in the building process, you have a big box. It takes a few extra creature comforts to turn that box into a chicken coop. The following easy-to-build pieces are explored more thoroughly in Chapter 9:

Roosts: A roost is, at first glance, a simple bar or pole inside the shelter that replicates the tree branch that your birds instinctively want to perch on at night. Provide 12 inches of roost per bird, and place the roost bar as high off the ground as your coop design allows. Steps (or other roosts to be used as steps) can often help the hens make their way up to their perch at night.

The area directly below the roost gets the most chicken poop, so pay extra-special attention to where you place your roost. Open-top nest boxes and food or water containers should never be placed in the “drop zone.” In fact, savvy coop owners design the coop specifically with the logistics of future cleanups in mind.

Nest boxes: Birds being kept for eggs should be given nest boxes. Hens will share a nest box, so plan on having one for every two to three birds. Each box should be a minimum of 12 x 12 inches, or larger if possible. Nest boxes can be completely contained within the shelter, but many caretakers build a bank of nest boxes that stick out of an exterior coop wall, with a lid that can be lifted from outside the shelter to access the eggs.

Ramps: Some coops may require a ramp that offers the flock a way to get down out of the coop and into the run or yard. These simple ramps often feature rungs that give the birds’ feet something to grip as they make their way up and down.

Building a run

Of our five coop designs in Part III, three incorporate a run into the structure itself. But a stand-alone shelter needs an attached run, an enclosed outdoor area where the chickens will spend their days hunting and pecking. Factor in 3 to 6 square feet of run per bird, although more is always better.

First-time coop-builders should think of the fencing material that makes up the run not only as something that keeps chickens in, but also that which keeps hungry predators out. Lightweight netting or flimsy chicken wire is rarely enough; plan on stretching heavy-duty, welded wire with small openings between posts that are solidly anchored and securely fastened.

Many caretakers also rig up fencing material over the top of the run to thwart airborne attacks. See Chapter 10 for much more about building a run.

Hooking up electricity

Running an electrical line to a chicken coop is an expense that many caretakers are reluctant to consider. Chicken owners who already have power in their poultry pen will tell you it’s worth every penny. After reading Chapter 11, you might think so, too. From simple task lighting to space heaters to turbine fans that exhaust stale air, electricity can spark all kinds of ways to make your coop cleaner, better, and easier to maintain.

Messing around with wiring, though, is a potentially dangerous endeavor for many weekend warriors. If you like the idea of having juice in your coop, think about hiring a professional electrician to take care of it.

Checking Out a Few Coop Designs

Part III is what really sets this book apart. That’s where we provide full building plans for five different chicken coops; at least one should fit the needs of any urban chicken-keeper. Chapters 12 through 16 contain full materials lists, cut lists, and assembly instructions — all with detailed illustrations to guide you through each cut and every connection.

In a nutshell, here are the five coops you’ll be able to build by the time you reach the end of this book:

The Minimal Coop: Our smallest coop, in Chapter 12, is for the do-it-yourselfer who doesn’t want to do all that much. It uses basic pieces of lumber and requires only simple straight-line cuts — and as few of both as humanly possible. This no-frills “starter” coop houses four to five birds but doesn’t include a run.

The Alpine A-Frame: Another small coop, for two to four birds, the plan in Chapter 13 requires even less material to build the shelter, thanks to an A-frame design. A hinged roof panel allows easy caretaker access. A 24-square-foot run is attached to this self-contained coop, and attractive exterior siding makes it a nice addition to the landscape.

The Urban Tractor: Specifically designed to be relocated around your property via a heavy tow chain, this coop (featured in Chapter 14) incorporates a shelter that accommodates two or three birds and a 16-square-foot run in a portable unit. Part of the run extends underneath the elevated shelter to provide your hens a shady spot to chill out on hot summer days.

The All-in-One: Combining the best features of all coop styles, this coop (shown in Chapter 15) is small enough to be portable, yet tall enough that the caretaker can step into the attached run and stand upright. The shelter can accommodate four to six chickens, yet occupies a smaller footprint than the Alpine A-Frame coop.

The Walk-In: Our largest coop (shown in Chapter 16) is for chicken owners who want to start out with a big flock or just increase their existing bird count. The 8-x-8-foot shelter can house up to 30 birds at once (or fewer birds with some storage space leftover!). Building it, though, doesn’t require any special skills that aren’t already explained in this book.

Chapter 2

Beginning with Housing Basics

In This Chapter

Providing the bare necessities in your coop

Adding chicken-friendly amenities

Thinking about the chicken-keeper during planning

Choosing the best location for a coop

Weighing pros and cons of various housing styles

It’s the age-old question: which came first, the chicken or the coop? (Or something like that.) But seriously, do you really need a chicken coop for your backyard flock? Humans were keeping chickens long before they started building little houses for them. So why is dedicated housing even necessary?

Technically speaking, a chicken owner could let a bunch of hens fend for themselves with no coop whatsoever. It’s possible. Unfortunately, it’s not practical. For almost every one of us, no matter where we live, having some sort of housing is a prerequisite to keeping chickens.