| News flash: drawing up chicken coop plans is not that | | | | But then again, what kind of creatures do you have |
| far removed from planning a house. | | | | in your locale? Do you have to worry about rats, |
| As a matter of fact, the two endeavors are | | | | coyotes or raccoons? Again, wood, and even packed |
| probably more similar than you'd imagine, with the | | | | earth, won't be the best material for your chicken |
| differences hinging on the fact that houses house | | | | coops. |
| people while chicken coops are fowl homes.It should | | | | Plan another one if you had your heart set on using |
| come as no surprise, then, that building the two | | | | that old oak lumber you've had in your backyard all |
| share plenty of similarities and concerns. | | | | summer. |
| While you probably wouldn't be getting the services | | | | And where will the chickens be staying? |
| of an architect to build yourself a coop, it would be | | | | The nesting boxes inside the coops are pretty |
| best if you face the reality that before you build | | | | important, since this is where your birds will sleep and |
| your chicken coop, you will have to take note of | | | | lay their eggs. It has to give the chicken the illusion of |
| several things first. | | | | privacy without being too difficult to access, lest the |
| The most important thing is location. Namely, yours | | | | chickens injure themselves trying to get in. |
| and the chicken coop's. Plan the building around the | | | | A good example of an effective nesting box includes |
| area you live in, lest you end up using material that | | | | an old tire, half a big tub of ice cream, an old closet, |
| will either fall apart due to the elements, or prove | | | | and even half a plastic container of water (the kind |
| insufficient as a means of protection against | | | | that comes by the gallon). |
| predators. | | | | Once you've come up with the plans for your |
| Folks in cold climates or in places where it rains a lot | | | | chicken coop, study them, make revisions, and study |
| will want to avoid using wood-based materials in | | | | them again. Be brutal, because a mistake in the |
| coming up with their coops, whereas somebody living | | | | designing process of a chicken coop is easy to |
| in southern California or in Largo City would have little | | | | address, while a mistake during the construction or in |
| trouble with using wooden beams or sheets of | | | | the finished product will mean that your chicken coop |
| plywood. | | | | plans were an exercise in futility. |