Hen Houses - How to Build A Chicken Coup

To raise chickens doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. It can in fact be a very inexpensive and satisfying hobby. They are interesting little animals to observe, and you get the bonus of fresh eggs too. A lot of the problems with having chickens can be taken care of by building good hen houses for them to live in.

A common problem with building hen houses that can’t be moved is that you need to deal with the pile up of manure. But if you instead build one that can be moved around every couple of days you easily get around this problem and can give your birds fresh food to eat.

To begin with, you need to choose the right design. One of the best is called an A-frame, it’s about 4 feet wide and 6 feet long. This model can give room for 6-7 birds, but is still small enough to be moved around very easy (the entire goal of the design). Look through inline to get an idea of the various kinds of models that are for sale. By doing this you’ll get a lot of ideas for what features you might like to include in your hen houses.

Because of the fact that the coup you are building will be placed outdoors on the grass, you should use lumber that is pressure treated. That way you don’t have to worry about bugs infecting the wood. If you use 2x4 boards that will give the triangle walls at both ends sufficient strength, as well as the runners that connect every set on points. Add two additional boards, to give floor of the some extra support, about halfway up the sides. A helpful tip is that if you extend these supports past the ends of the chicken ark the can also serve as handles.

One sheet of plywood that has been properly pressure treated will give you enough wood for both the roof and the floor of the hen houses. With great care, cut out a hole in the middle of the coup and save this part to use as a ramp later. To do that, place a latch to one side and a hinge on the other. Also place hinges to either side of the roof, so you can easily get access to the coop and the place where the eggs are being laid. In case your feeling creative and you have the material available at home, you can also put metal siding on the roof of the coop. If you want to and think it looks good, do it

When you’ve finished that, the big part of the construction is complete. Adding chicken wire to the hen houses lower level is the next step, and then you’re done! You can decide after that if you’d like to paint the coop, to make it look nicer in any way, or just let it have a natural look. Your very own coop is now safe and complete, ready to receive it’s first chickens.