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DIY Chicken Coop Location & Size
The
first thing we need to decide on is location. Why? Because the location
of our chicken coop will probably have something to do with the size of
a coop we can build, which
is the second part of the process. I am no expert but I can suggest
“after the fact” some things to consider before choosing your coop
location. Proximity to the house needs to be considered for a couple of
reasons, daily care being one of the most important to us. We wanted
easy access to the coop during those winter months when the snow is 3
feet deep and it’s hard to get anywhere fast. Depending on where you
live, smell is something else to consider. Chickens do 3 three things if
they are laying hens, eat, lay eggs, and poop!
The latter is the thing they do the most of and something you need to
keep in mind. While chicken manure is not as atrocious as cow or pig
manure, it does carry that special odor that needs to be considered for
both you and your neighbors if neighbors are a consideration. We use a
method of odor control in our coop that I am extremely pleased with that
I will cover later in this process, but you definitely will want to
consider it while choosing your location so as not to have undesirable
odors blowing into your prevailing wind side of the house windows all
day long! Even with the method I will describe later, there is always
going to be some amount of odor present with your chicken coop.
The second thing you will need to decide on is size. The coop we built
will easily house 12 chickens. Depending on the source you listen to,
you will need somewhere around a minimum of 2 square feet per chicken.
Some sources recommend up to 4 square foot per chicken but you will have
to decide for yourself which way to go. We went with 4 sq. ft. per
chicken to be safe. Our DIY chicken coop ended up being built at 8 ft. x
8 ft. for a total of 64 square feet inside or space for 16 chickens if
desired. We live in Michigan where t he winters can often be long and
cold so we decided on an insulated coop also but depending on where you
live, this may or may not be necessary. We also decided on a raised version chicken coop. There were two reasons for this in our case. The first is the fact that our coop and pen is located over the top of our septic tanks. Because of the way we designed our septic system when we built our home I really never expect to have to access it, but you just never know and the thought of having to move that coop if we did wasn’t something I really wanted to entertain. The other reason was for shade. The side of the house our coop is on receives sun a good part of the day and building a raised coop provides a large area of shade for our chickens to get out of the heat of summer as needed. I can say that this was a good choice after having gone through our first summer.
“Here’s How To Keep Happy, Healthy, Egg Laying Chickens In Your Own Backyard or On The Farm…
[ purchasing, raising, & caring for our new chickens ] [ diy chicken coop ] [ chicken coop size & location ] [ building our chicken coop ] [ chicken coop construction part 1 ] [ chicken coop construction part 2 - ] [ chicken coop construction part 3 ] [ chicken coop construction part 4 ] [ chicken coop construction part 5 ] [ chicken coop construction part 6 ] [ chicken coop construction part 7 ] [ chicken coop construction part 8 ] [ chicken coop construction part 9 ] [ chicken coop construction part 10 ] [ chicken coop construction part 11 ] [ chicken coop construction part 12 ] [ chicken coop construction part 13 ]
Written by: WM8C, November 8th, 2006. Not for use without written permission |
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