How to Set Up a Chicken Coop

Setting Up The Coop

• 1

  Locate a site for your chicken coop. Scan your yard for a quiet spot that gets both sun and shade. Make sure to take the local climate into account. If you live in a place with hot summers, consider placing the coop under a shade tree. If winters are particularly brutal, make sure the coop is somewhere where it will be protected from drafts. Keep in mind that some cities have laws about how far the coop must be located from adjacent properties. Measure to make sure your coop location meets these requirements.

• 2

  Purchase or build the coop. Buying a pre-made coop and/or run is quicker and easier, but it is more expensive than building one on your own. If you do choose a DIY coop, there are many coop plans available online. Some chicken owners opt to modify a dog house or garden shed into a simple coop by attaching a run --- usually a wood frame stapled with wire cloth. Whether you buy or build your coop, make sure it provides access to the outdoors, adequate ventilation, such as a screened window, a ladder to allow chickens to easily enter and exit and at least 4 square feet of space per each free range chicken (up to 10 square feet if the chickens are to be confined). Overcrowding can lead to health and behavioral problems in chickens.

• 3

  Make sure the chicken coop is safe from predators. Chicken wire is cheap, but its wide holes do not offer much protection. If you live in a rural area, you should consider using 1/2-inch square hardware cloth on all sides of the coop, including the floor and roof of the run, according to My Pet Chicken. This will prevent animals like rats from burrowing underneath and hawks from swooping in from above. At the very least, make sure the fence of the run is buried 1 foot below the soil.

• 4

  Fit the interior of your coop with roosting perches. Perches should be rounded and approximately 2 inches in diameter. Wooden dowels or pieces of plastic PVC pipe work well. Provide enough perches to allot 5 to 10 inches of space per chicken. Chickens prefer to perch at least a few inches off the ground, but low enough to be protected from drafts.

• 5

  Include a removable tray to catch droppings. Some chicken owners prefer to place the tray below a screened metal floor. Others simply fill the bottom of a deep tray with absorbent litter such as pine shavings. Droppings can be added to a compost pile to create fertilizer.

• 6

  Set up nest boxes in your chicken coop. On average, you will need just one nest box for every four to five hens. You can build the boxes yourself from plywood or purchase them from most feed stores. Attach the nest boxes to the coop wall at least a few inches off the floor, but below the roosting perches. Put them in a dark corner or side of the coop, but make sure you can access them easily to retrieve eggs. Some chicken houses have nest boxes that open from the back so you can collect the eggs without entering the coop. Fill the boxes with a soft bedding material, such as pine shavings or straw.

• 7

  Place food and water containers inside the coop. Sturdy plastic containers are easier to clean than galvanized metal and won't rust. If a portion of the coop is raised, consider inserting hooks into the floor and allowing the food and water containers to hang from the hooks 6 to 8 inches from the ground. Chickens are notoriously messy eaters and can knock over containers placed on the floor of the coop.

• 8

  Provide a place for dust baths. Chickens need to thrash around in the dirt to rid themselves of mites and lice. Ideally, the coop will contain a run with a dirt floor. In the absence of natural soil, consider filling a large plastic cat litter box with clean fill dirt (as opposed to potting soil, which often contains fertilizer granules).