Portable chicken coops are usually smaller in size than their fixed counterparts, but if you do not need a larger number of hens in your backyard you should be fine. Do not cram too many birds into too small of space. Just make sure that each chicken has at least 3-4 ft of space to move around. Otherwise you may endanger your hens’ health, and as a result also the egg production. On the other hand, if your coop turns out to be too big, though there isn’t really a “too” big, you can always add another hen.

Portable chicken coops have the advantage that they are easy to move around. This makes it comfortable for you to move your chicken tractor to where you can keep an eye on your hens. Watch out for predators in your neighborhood. Your neighbors’ cats and dogs may very well be a threat to your chickens. Depending on where you live, there may also be foxes, badgers and other predators that you will have to protect your chickens from. Hence, moving your chicken tractor to an area where you can have an eye on them is a good idea.

But, hens are robust birds and you really won’t have to worry about them that much. Just as long as you make the effort to protect them from the more determined animals you will be able to enjoy the eggs and the chickens for years to come. Did I mention chickens make exceptional pets? Well, they do! And they make a wonderful family experience. Raising chickens whether in a portable chicken coop or other type of hen house is a rewarding and unique experience. One that will make a lasting family memory.

Need an idea on how to get started? It you want to save a lot of money and have a lot of fun, building a portable chicken coop yourself is the best way to go. There is nothing more satisfying than building a coop yourself, and it will save you a lot of money. Hen houses are expensive, but they don’t have to be. Click here to build yours today.

What is the difference between an egg you’ve gotten from your chickens and a store bought one? Well, you just have to taste one and the answer will be clear.

But there is something you should know, you’re not the only one that loves your chickens. There are many different types of predators out there. Some of them you see every day and don’t give it a second thought, others will be drawn to your hen house.

To start, let’s look at the ones you already know but may have overlooked. Fido, he loves his family, ask him to get the paper and he will gladly comply, need your slipper no problem. But just don’t leave him alone to watch the hen house.

The neighborhood dogs and cats can be a minor menace when it comes to the safety of your poultry, that is why protection is so important.

While the domesticated pets in your neighborhood might only be a small threat, there are many or types of animals that will be drawn to your hen house. These predators can really shake things up, and it is never fun waking up to a coop that has been plundered.

Some of these predators include rats, foxes, badgers and coyotes. That is why it is important to use durable fencing. You will also want to plan on burying the fence to prevent determined intruders from getting in.

There is one more threat that I should mention, and this ones comes from above. Hawks. They can drop in and grab a bite to eat. To discourage this, you can build a roof over your run or use extra segments of fencing to close it off.

Do you have hen house plans that protect? As you can see, these are just a couple of ways you can ensure the safety and happiness of your birds. There are many other factors to cover that are outside of the scope of this article.

It is true. But it is also true that neither of these “solutions” are real chicken coops. And I think that you will agree with that.

But coops are also much more than four walls and a roof, they need to be planned and built properly. Both for the hens living inside of them, and for the egg production which you are surely looking forward to.

For starters, chickens aren’t sardines, they need space to live. A good rule of thumb is to give each chicken at least 3 sq. ft. of space inside of the coop (a little more room is better). Building it smaller, and you will only succeed in making the hens fight for room rather than lay eggs.

As you can see, this limits the number of chicken you can hold, if you have a spot set in stone. Or it makes you rethink the location, if you have the number of chickens picked out you want to raise.

There is far too much information for this topic than can be covered in this article, but we will hit the important ones.

Ventilation is an often overlooked part of building a chicken coop. Sure, we don’t want the hen house to be drafty, but it is important that there is at least some air circulation. This prevents dangerous carbon dioxide and ammonia buildup. Both of these will threaten the health of the chickens living in the coop.

Hygiene is also important, and that means building the coop so it is easy to clean. But there are easy ways to do this. One is to put down a tile floor. This will do two things, first it reduces the wear and tear from hungry beaks pecking on it. And the other thing that it does is making cleaning much easier.

Here is a little trick that you may not have thought of. Tilt the floor slightly so that it points toward the entrance. If you do this, you will be able to spray the tiles off with the hose, and the water will run out the door. This makes the cleaning chore a snap and keeps water from pooling in the coop.

Speaking of water, here is another important tip, build the chicken coop on the highest spot in your yard. This way, if your yard floods, you won’t have angry wet hens on your hands, as you can imagine this is never a pleasant situation.

Are you ready to build a chicken coop? Doing it correctly is the most important thing you can do when raising hens. The rest of it is the easy and fun part.

But did you know that you can also treat your birds? That’s right, just like us, chicken enjoy getting treats. The nice thing about giving chickens treats though is, if you do it right, you will also increase egg production. The reason for this, unlike with us, the inhabitants of your hen house enjoy healthy treats. This gives your chickens a happy healthy environment to live in.

I can hear you asking “what types of treats should I give my chickens?” Scratch the candy bars, soft drinks and chips, a real winner with chickens are worms. If that makes your skin crawl, don’t worry, yogurt is always a huge hit with hens.

Yogurt has several benefits. The main one being that the chickens in your hen house will go crazy for it. The other ones are more practical. It is very good for their digestive system, plus it is an excellent source of calcium, which is very important for strong egg shells.

Here are several more treats that your chickens will thank you for through more delicious eggs:

First, let’s start off with the vegetables. Sure, you might have a hard time getting the kids to eat them, but you won’t have the same problem with your hens. They love to eat things like: asparagus (at least some of them), beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn etc.

Generally they will eat most types of vegetables either cooked or uncooked. It is important to make sure that they have access to plenty of greens, especially in the winter. This can be done in various ways, be creative, chickens aren’t dumb and they will enjoy a small challenge. One thing you can do is hang the cabbage from the ceiling of your hen house’s run. You are building a ceiling over it, right? During the winter months, when there isn’t much green to be found, the chickens will enjoy eating the cabbage.

Another trick is to place some broccoli and cauliflower in the corner of their run. If you want to, you can always fasten it using a suet cage. As I have said, be creative, it is always a hoot watching chickens try new foods.

Fruits are also good source of vitamins and minerals, and your hens will gobble them up.

You will quickly find that the residents in your hen house will eat just about anything, and that is where you need to be careful. There are certain foods that you should never feed your hens, some of these include: avocado skins or pits, candy, chocolate which is poisonous to many pets, beans that are either dry or uncooked, raw potatoes and their skins, or salty foods.

As you can see, there are many things you can feed your hens, meal time is always fun to watch, so make sure to treat those chickens.

What do you mean, you haven’t built your hen house yet? I agree, there are a lot of things to keep in mind, and you want to make sure that you do it properly. If that is the case, I suggest that you take a couple of minutes and sign up for my mini-course and learn what it takes to build a hen house properly.

Chickens are a fun pet to raise, and there are many different good reasons why you would want to have a small chicken farm in your backyard. Here are a couple of them to get you excited about raising hens!

1 – Eggs

This is probably the number one reason why people build their own coop. If you’re crazy about eggs, just wait until you eat your very first fresh egg straight from your backyard.

While it may seem easier to go to the store and pick up a dozen eggs, they aren’t nearly as tasty as fresh ones. I suspect that this has something to do with what the poor hens are given to eat in the egg laying factories. Trust me, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the eggs, and once you’ve eaten a fresh one, you will never want to go back to store bought eggs again.

2 – Funny Pets

Of course chickens are pets! A lot of people simply look at chickens as a source of food, but they are much more, they are pets.

If you have children, building a chicken coop is an excellent way to teach them responsibility. Chickens have their own personalities. For example, chickens will eat a variety of different foods, and it is always a fun experience watching them “test” something new. Depending on what it is, they may have you rolling on the ground with laughter.

While it isn’t a food that has a high source of nutrients, it is always fun watching chickens eat boiled macaroni. Just don’t feed them too much of it, and make sure that they have plenty of other food high in vitamins and minerals.

3 – Fertilizer Anyone?

While the dung produced by commercially held chickens is actually harmful to the soil, the same can’t be said about your backyard chicken farm. In fact, the dung they produce can be used as a high quality natural fertilizer for your garden.

Not every gardener might be keen on this idea, but if you want to give your green thumb a helping hand, your feathered friends are more than willing to do their part. And if you have some extra fruits and vegetables leftover, they will be more than willing to help you eat them up. Hint, strawberries are always a big hit!

Excited? I thought so! Now all that is left is for you to learn how to do is build the coop and raise the hens.

Click here to continue and get access to my free mini course and report to get you started.

Building a chicken coop isn’t hard, but it is a lot of fun you just have to get started.

Wood isn’t the cheapest solution when it comes to building your hens a house, but it is probably one of the sturdiest. And that means that it will pay for itself in the long run.

We all know the old expression “you get what you pay for”. Well the same holds true here. I’ve seen some people build their chicken coops out of old political yard signs that they’ve collected after election season. As you can imagine, this is not the most durable or effective way to build a chicken coop, nor is it the most pleasant home for chickens to live in.

Going the cheap route doesn’t mean you have to go the chintzy route, in fact if the coop is properly built, your chickens won’t care what it’s made out of.

If you don’t have a large budget planned for your project, there are several things you can do. One, you can always choose to build a smaller home for your hens. While this might not be exactly what you want, you will be providing your chickens with a home that is healthy, safe and comfortable. What more could they ask for? Not too much! Well, okay that might be jumping the gun a little bit, since there are many factors you need to consider when you build a proper chicken house.

We won’t go into that too much in this article, but needless to say a lot is hanging on the quality of your construction. If you start off on the wrong foot and the coop that doesn’t live up to its name, you get, well… You know the rest.

As I’ve mentioned there are several options. Another option is to collect scraps and other pieces of unused lumber from your local lumberyard. You can usually get these for very cheap or in some cases for free. These pieces of wood are still in good shape, though they may not be perfectly suited for use on a commercial construction site.

What this means is that you may actually be able to get to build the size of hen house you want for your budget or less. Once the chicken coop is finished, no one will ever be able to tell you used scraps of wood to build it if you properly finish it out and paint it.

And I suggest, take your time to do this. The appearance of your backyard chicken farm can play a big role in how it is received by your neighbors. As you can imagine, you’ll quickly known what your neighbors think of it, so let’s hope that it is a big hit.

Don’t break out the power tools just yet, you still have more to learn about building a chicken coop. Luckily, I’ve taken the time to prepare a mini course along with a report for the new chicken farmer.

Why don’t we take a look at some of these right now.

The chicken coop is one of the most important factors in raising happy and healthy chickens. Doing it properly will have a direct impact on the amount of eggs your chickens are able to produce. If you find that your chickens aren’t laying enough eggs, one of the main problems can be the size of your chicken coop.

The reason for this is that each chicken inside your chicken coop needs at least 3 square ft. of living space. Of course more is always better, and if you have the room in your yard, you may want to build a little bit bigger.

When hens are forced to live in a crowded house, they will spend more time fighting for space than laying eggs. As you can see, the size of the hen house and the number of hens you can hold are directly linked to one another. If you only have 12 square ft. of space in your backyard, you can only comfortably raise 3 to 4 chickens. On the other hand, if you’ve built an enclosure that is a little bit larger than you need, you always have the option to add another hen or two.

Now that you have a pretty clear idea about the size of the chicken coop you can build, let’s cover one more aspect before we move on to protection.

This is the type of hen house you plan to construct. The two types are fixed and portable.

Depending on where you live and the amount of space you have, a fixed one may not be an option. This is where a portable chicken coop comes in. These are generally smaller, lighter and more portable than their fixed counterparts. They have several benefits, which include the ability to clean them easier, but they are also easier to maintain.

The reason for this is because you do not need to take your tools to the coop, instead you bring the coop to any location you desire. This makes performing the frequent maintenance tasks easier, plus you won’t have to make your hens living space dirty or wet when it comes time to clean.

There are also several drawbacks to building a portable chicken coop, the main one being that they are not nearly as durable as the fixed version. This means that after several seasons you will most likely have to build a replacement.

On the other hand a fixed chicken coop, when done properly, is very durable and will generally last for many years. But make sure that you build it in a location that you will be happy with. As their name implies, fixed chicken coops are firmly anchored to the ground. If for some reason you need to tear down and relocate, you will have your work cut out for you.

Of course you still have to maintain this type of hen house just like you would any other, however, it becomes more of a seasonal task than one that needs be completed every couple months.

Now that we’ve covered the different types of coops you can build, let’s cover one more important factor, protection.

Protection is one of most important things you will need to think about when you build a chicken coop. Hens have a magical way of attracting predators, these can come in numerous forms. Some of these you would never suspect, while with others you may underestimate their determination.

The neighborhood cats and dogs probably wouldn’t harm a fly, chickens on the other hand are fair game. While these two types of loving pets aren’t necessarily a major threat, you will want to definitely think about keeping them away from your poultry.

Some of the other more dangerous predators can come in the form of foxes, coyotes, badgers and rats. While the likeliness of these predators depends on where you are located, protecting your feathered friends can never hurt.

That means using strong and durable fencing to enclose your run. Another good idea is to anchor the fence a foot or so in the ground. As you can imagine, many of these predators are exceptional diggers. Ff you get one of these determined diggers, a buried fence can be just the discouragement to keep them out.

Once you’ve built a coop that is well-suited for your chickens, the hard part of the project is over. Now you really get to sit back and enjoy those fresh eggs you’ve been craving.

Probably not, very few people know how to build a chicken coop without at least looking at some plans at one time or another.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t build one though, nor does it mean you have to be a super handyman to construct a successful hen house. But you do need to learn a few things before you break out the building materials.

There are more designs of chicken coops out there than you would know what to do with, combine that with the two possible styles and the possibilities are endless. So which one do you pick?

Depending on what you plan to do with the chicken coop, you will need to either pick a chicken tractor, which is a type of portable chicken coop, or one that is firmly built into the ground.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and if you’re just starting out, you may want to stick with something simple like a chicken tractor. On the other hand, if you want to raise more chickens, you would definitely want to consider building for the long term. In this case I would highly suggest the fixed alternative.

But how do you know which version to choose? Well, if you like to keep your chickens close to you, being able to move the coop freely around your yard is a huge benefit. But as you can imagine, this causes wear and tear that will need to be often repaired. While it is true that repairing a portable chicken coop is easier due to its mobility, it is also one of the major factors causing it to break in the first place.

Fixed coops aren’t easy to move, and when you repair them, that means bringing your power tools along with extension cords to the construction site. While this is an inconvenience, you won’t have to repair your hen house as frequently.

As I’ve mentioned, size really plays a role in the type of chicken coop you’ll build. So how do you decide how big a chicken coop you need to build? Well, this is actually very simple and through basic arithmetic you can easily calculate the size.

You see, each chicken needs at the very least, and I mean very least, 3 square ft. of space inside the house. Honestly, I recommend giving them a little bit more room. You can never build one that is too large, however, if you build a bigger hen house, you have the potential to increase the size of your chicken farm in the future.

As you can see, building a chicken coop really isn’t that hard, but just like everything else it takes a little planning to make it successful.

Click here for more information on properly setting up and raising chickens in your very own backyard chicken coop. If you’re serious about raising chickens, you won’t want to miss out on the opportunity to get my free mini course and report.

Rooster Running In Chicken Coop

So, you are thinking about raising chickens in your backyard? That’s a great idea! Why? Because having your own chickens provides you with many advantages. For one, you won’t have to worry about fresh eggs any longer – you’ll find them right there in your backyard. This will save you a lot of money in the long run, and you will know where your breakfast eggs are coming from. That’s a great feeling, I can tell you!

Furthermore, you are doing a favor to the chickens themselves. Just think about the conditions that modern egg-producing hens are raised under. That will make you shudder. Your backyard, however, will make for a lot happier and healthier chickens! To keep your chickens healthy, it is important to pick the right size of chicken coop that will give each bird enough space to live. Also the ventilation and proper positioning in your backyard are important factors to consider.

When looking at chicken coops, you have the option to either buy a coop or build your own from hen house plans. You’ll be able to save a lot of money by picking out the right chicken coop plans and building it yourself (it’s not that hard) or have somebody build it for you. Fact is, most commercially available, “pre-built” hen houses need to be assembled, too. And they are a lot more expensive than the coop plans plus material costs! A pre-built chicken coop can start (depending on the size) anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars and up.

Also, you will have a lot more options to pick from if you are going with chicken coop plans. That way you can get the most out of the space available in your backyard, you can choose between portable and fixed hen houses, and you can pick a design that you really like. Nobody wants an eye-sore in their backyard – your neighbors will be a lot happier with a nice looking chicken coop than some ugly box that obstructs their view.

Click here to find out more more about backyard chicken coops and get the plans that suit your needs! Visit http://iqbanq.com/easy-chicken-coop-plans/ and see just how easy building your very own hen house can be.

The Size of The Chicken Coop

For your chickens to be comfortable the chicken coop plans need to give you a clear idea how many hens you will be able to keep in the coop. Picking too small a coop is not a good idea, since the birds will be crowded and the hygiene is going to be lacking.

This can very well lead to illnesses among the chickens, besides any social problems in your coop should the hens feel crowded.

Tips and Tricks to Minimize Your Work

Chicken coop plans should come with a selection of ideas on how to minimize your work. As an example, some chicken coops feature a slanted floor that will make it easier to clean the building.

There is a lot you can do to make your chicken coop less of a stressful and more of a joyful venture. Learn from the experiences made by professionals to not repeat their mistakes. You are not the first to build your own chicken coop, so fortunately there are some great resources for you to pick up and get started.

The Proper Location

Picking the proper location is an important factor in getting the most out of your chicken coop. For example, chickens need a lot of sunlight. Building your chicken coop in an area with little direct sunlight can hurt the egg production.

There are other things you can do to ensure your coop stays nice and is easy to clean. One thing you can do is build your chicken coop on top of a hill to ensure your coop will not flood when it rains. High quality chicken coop plans should give you more ideas such as this to help you find the best location in your yard.

Protection For Your Chickens

Your chickens need to be protected. That’s true both for pet predators and wild animals, depending on if you live in the city or the country. Dogs, cats, badgers, foxes and so on are all a potential threat to your chickens. Since some predators will dig their way into your chicken coop you will need to take all necessary precautions to protect your chickens.

You wouldn’t want to wake up one day to find all your chickens slain in the yard, would you?

The Design of The Coop

Alright, the design doesn’t seem that important, but let’s not kid ourselves… it is! You wouldn’t want to have some ugly eye sore in your backyard. And I can tell you, neither would your neighbors. Better pick a nice design that everybody can live with than some ugly box that your neighbors will hate you for.

If you get this right, chance is your neighbors will envy you for your awesome looking chicken coop. And you made it all by yourself!

Are you ready to get your hands on great chicken coop plans? Good! You can find an excellent set on my website, as well as a lot more information about raising chickens.

When you’re there don’t forget to claim your free copy of my beginner’s guide. You’ll be glad that you did. You can find it here: http://iqbanq.com/easy-chicken-coop-plans/