Chicken coops are simply a house where chickens live, and for hens to lay eggs safely and conveniently. It is their home, so it must be built according to their needs. By providing them a convenient place, they will grow healthy.
RECOMMENDED READ: 10 Reasons You Need To Start Raising Your Own Backyard Chickens Today
There are a lot of chicken coops being sold in urban areas, but you don’t have to buy one. Instead, you can use some of their ideas to build your own. In this video, you can have a clue on how easy you can make your own chicken coop.
Nevertheless, here are 24 chicken coops you can build in your backyard:
1. Sunrise Chicks Chicken Coop
The size of this coop might be the reason why it is called Sunrise Chicks Chicken Coop. It is so big that it can accommodate 30 chickens without giving them stress.
BackYardChickens has a detailed plan of how to make this chicken coop. If you already have a lot of chickens, this coop is good for you.
2. Mammy’s 1895 Chicken House
This chicken coop plan is owned by Tarter Farm and Ranch. According to Joy Tarter, the owner of Tarter Farm, this coop was built by her grandparents in 1985. Because there have been a lot of requests for this plan, Tarter Farm and Ranch has decided to share this plan for free.
3. Minimal Cost Chicken Coop
According to The Chicken Project, this coop would only cost $600 if you build it on your own. And despite its minimal cost, it can accommodate 10 heavy breeds of chickens.
Moreover, it looks nice, especially in garden landscape. This chicken coop is a good way to start.
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4. Downeast Thunder Farm Chicken Coop
Downeast Thunder Farm Chicken Coop is designed to provide chickens with much legroom for them to run and roam around. It is enclosed with rectangular shape so the chickens can walk freely while enjoying an open air under the sun.
This coop is designed by Downeast Thunder Farm in order to protect the chickens form different predators.
5. Simplistic Chicken Coop
Jared Skye posted this plan on lovetoknow to show a simple option of making your own chicken coop. It doesn’t have to be made of specific materials with definite standard and details.
This chicken coop can be built with any material available in your backyard. This is why the plan is called simplistic chicken coop.
6. Melissa’s DIY Chicken Coop
This chicken coop is the best example of DIY. It is not about a detailed plan. The bottom line here is that anyone can use anything to build a chicken coop even without any special knowledge or skills about it.
Melissa, the author of BlessThisMess, has built this on her own without any technical know-how just to show that anyone can do the same.
7. Robb’s Backyard Chicken Coop
At first, Robb’s purpose of designing this chicken coop is to house at least 3 to 5 laying hens. The design is inspired by Kansas barns that he has seen.
The good thing about this chicken coop is that Robb only cost him $40 to build it. This is truly a minimal cost chicken coop.
8. The Kerr Center Chicken Tractor
If you have a farm or a wide flat land, The Kerr Center Chicken Tractor is a good chicken coop you can build and use. It is portable. You can pull it, push it, or lift from the ground in order to move it to another area.
9. Harriet’s House Chicken Coop
This chicken coop is inspired with Harriet’s House. It is designed by Karl Caden, who has more than 100 chicken coop plans that he offers for sale, but his Harriet’s House chicken coop is only offered for free.
Although he gives this away as a free sample, he chose this one because it is one of his best designs.
10. Kevin’s Chicken Tractor
Chicken tractor is a portable chicken coop. There are several benefits of this type of chicken coop. First, chicken waste is a good fertilizer. You can spread it around your farm.
Secondly, you can move it from time to time prevents bad smell. Lastly, you can choose a better environment for your chickens.
11. Large Chicken Coop Design
This particular chicken coop is not just large. It is also very convenient for your chickens as well ventilated and high enough for chickens to fly while they can run freely.
Aside from that, you can put some more nest boxes without consuming so much space.
12. A-Frame Chicken Coop
Designed by Ana White, this chicken coop is another type of chicken tractor. The good thing about this type is that it is small so you can easily lift it and move it wherever you want to move it.
Moreover, it’s still not too small for a small number of chickens.
13. DIY Small Backyard Chicken Coop
If your backyard is small, this type of chicken coop is well suited. You can house 4 chickens in it but not more than.
Nonetheless, this is a good start from the scratch. You can bud a larger one in case you have more backyard space in the future.
14. Fox’s Log Cabin Chicken Coop
You can choose to build Fox’s Log Cabin Chicken Coop if you have plenty of logs in your place. You can maximize these materials to make such a type of chicken coop.
The advantage of this is it offers strong protection against predators. It is also well ventilated.
15. TRIXIE Chicken Coop with Outdoor Run
This is one of the chicken coops which Trixie offers for sale. This type of chicken coop is sold around $200. It’s not amount to try. But if you want to build the same on your own, you can do it as it doesn’t look to be complicated.
16. PVC Chicken Coop
PVC Chicken Coop is the best alternative to wooden chicken coop. You can easily assemble it. There is no need to nail or cut anything. Furthermore, it is not expensive.
17. Permanent Hoop Coop
Permanent Hoop Coop is easy to build. All you have to do is to put the foundation and install the roof. The purpose of the curve roof is to provide good insulation and protection against strong wind.
18. Shed Chicken Coop
This chicken coop is another design by Ana White. It’s a classic style of shed used in the past where farm tools and animals are found in one place. However, this one is designed only for chickens.
19. Farmer Kitty’s Coop
Most chicken coops may take several hours or days to build. This one may only take a few hours. This is perfect for those who temporarily raise chickens or for those who raise chickens seasonally.
It is also inexpensive to have this type of chicken coop.
20. Chicken Coop Plans by Home Depot
This a chicken coop designed and being sold by Home Depot. Nevertheless, they provide some details online for others to follow so you can build your own out of this chicken coop idea.
It’s a simple chicken coop anyway.
21. Wire Spools Chicken Coop
If you live in a narrow place, or you simply don’t have a wider space to house your chickens, Wire Spools Chicken Coop is the solution for you as it occupies space only vertically.
However, this one is almost like a cage. Bantam chickens may be well suited for this.
22. Judy’s Free Pallet Chicken Coop
Pallets are another material you can use to build a chicken coop. This is preferable only if you have plenty of pallets around your place. Though it consumes much energy to remove them somewhere for use in this project, you can save money since you don’t have to buy new wood materials.
23. My6Chick’s Chicken Coop
My6Chick’s Chicken Coop is simply beautiful. However, it would be a challenge for you to build it on your own as it is packed with many features such as chick-cam, electricity to heat water feeder, removable roosts, and door sweep.
Don’t worry. It only looks intimidating, but this is also a DYI project that many people can do.
24. Trictle’s Chicken Coop
Trictle’s Chicken Coop is a good example of a cute chicken coop. It is not just cute. It also serves some purposes as it is designed to keep chickens warm during winter.
Since it is elevated from the ground, it is also free from predators. However, it is so small that only a few chickens can be accommodated.
What Chicken Coop Plan Will You Build?
The above chicken coop plans are some of the most useful chicken coops that you can build. There are actually several thousands more out there. However, these chicken coops are carefully selected according to functions and advantages. You can choose one of them to begin with and try building some of them in the long run depending upon your situation.
You don’t have to spend money to have one since most of the ideas above are offered for free and can be done through DIY method. Therefore, you can do any of them any time using any material you have.