4 Mistakes to Avoid When Building Chicken Coops

When building chicken coops on your own, there are a number of mistakes you can make that can be harmful to your chickens.  Obviously, your goal is to design and build the best environment possible for your chickens.  To accomplish this goal, you should take a look at the most common mistakes below, so you can avoid them when building chicken coops on your own.

1. Space- When building chicken coops on their own, many people underestimate the amount of space they need for the amount of chickens they want to have.  This is a big mistake, because if you’re chickens are cramped, they may not lay eggs.  So, you need to make sure that you have adequate space for the number of chickens you want to house in the coop.

2. Light- Many people don’t realize how important proper light is to chickens.  To be healthy, chickens need plenty of sunlight everyday.  To achieve this, you should allow for plenty of windows when building chicken coops on your own.  As a bonus, the windows, if placed across from each other, will also cross ventilate the coop, circulating the air and keeping it cool on warm days.

3. Food- With all of the planning that goes into building chicken coops, little thought is often given to the placement of the chickens’ food and water when building chicken coops.  However, if the chickens find it difficult to reach the food and water, they may not eat and drink properly, leading to health problems.  So, make sure you place the containers where they are easily accessed.

4. Protection- Another big mistake you can make when building chicken coops is not providing enough protection from predators.  Predators are one of the biggest problems with owning chickens.  You need to make sure that the chicken coop is secure from predators and there is proper protection in the chicken run as well.

While there are many mistakes you can make when building chicken coops, the ones above are the most common.  If you make sure to avoid them, you have a much better chance of creating a healthy and safe environment for your chickens to live.