Build a Chicken House

by chicken house plans on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Comments Off

Build a Chicken House

So you want to build a portable chicken coop and raise a few chickens, but you do not want to spend a fortune on building plans, tools or materials? And you've been searching everywhere for free portable chicken coop plans with no luck? The average person will spend over $500 on a chicken coop, and that's a low estimate. In fact, if you buy one pre-assembled, it could cost you well over $1000. Why shell out that kind of cash when you could easily build your own for a lot less?

When the economy started taking a turn for the worst, I found myself in the same boat and decided that I wanted to try and raise a few chickens of my own. The fresh organic eggs would help cut the cost of food down and the droppings left behind could be used to fertilize my yard and garden, helping to produce even more home grown food to put on the table or share with family and friends.

The problem was that I had a small yard, so I didn't have the room required for a large coop. I also didn't have any experience with building things from scratch, so I needed to find a plan that:

Was clear and easy to read and comprehend for any level, including beginners.
Was inexpensive and cost effective to build.
Was easy to build with common household tools that anyone could use.
Had a complete shopping list of materials that I could easily find at any hardware store or farm supply shop.

After a lot of searching, I only found a few free portable chicken coop plans that were any good. Interested? To save others the same time and trouble, I reviewed them for all to see at Free Portable Chicken Coop Plans. If you just want to cut to the chase and see which one I thought was the best, check out PortableChickenCoops.info.

How do you build a chicken coop for one chicken by yourself (if it's actually possible)?

I have one 2 month old chicken who needs a house. I don't want to buy a 200 dollar one online. What do i do?

We're into recycling old material for pens, coops and animal housing, and you may have some material right in your garage that could work.

Truck caps make great small, portable coops. You can also use CPVC pipes with connectors and wrap chicken wire around it. If you plan on housing your bird in another building, such as a garage or barn, you can use basic wooden 1x2s to frame it and use hardware mesh or chicken wire for the top and sides. Old screens screwed together at the corners work too (we use these for our chick pens).

You can build anything out of old pallets and chicken wire!

On a side note, get your chicken a couple of friends... they can get very stressed being by themselves, as they are a social animal. Being alone is very unnatural for them, and increases their risk of predation. Even two other pullets around the same age won't take up much space, and you'll have happier, healthier birds for it.