Is a Backyard Chicken Coop Right for You?
Find out the features to include in a backyard chicken coop, and see how to build or buy one
Julie Sheer
June 24, 2017
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics editor and writer at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; outdoor guidebook author; lover of all things outdoors, nature and wildlife. Follow me at https://westcentric.wordpress.com/
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics... More
Craving a daily supply of fresh eggs, perhaps you’ve decided to join the urban homesteading movement and get yourself a flock of chickens for the backyard. You’ll start indoors with chicks in a box and a heat lamp, but before long they’re going to need a permanent home with a place to sleep, lay eggs, roam and be protected from the elements and predators. Here are examples of the many ways to build or buy a chicken coop for your yard and what features to include.
A good backyard chicken coop provides a henhouse for egg laying, perches for roosting and sleeping, and a fenced-in run for pecking, roaming and doing what chickens do. You can keep it basic — with walls, windows, a door and a roof — or create a mini architectural masterpiece.
If you’re a confident DIYer with basic carpentry skills, you can build one, or you can leave it up to a carpenter or builder who specializes in animal enclosures. Unless you live in an area zoned for agriculture, check with your local zoning office to find out about ordinances for keeping chickens, which can restrict the number of birds and location of the coop.
If you’re a confident DIYer with basic carpentry skills, you can build one, or you can leave it up to a carpenter or builder who specializes in animal enclosures. Unless you live in an area zoned for agriculture, check with your local zoning office to find out about ordinances for keeping chickens, which can restrict the number of birds and location of the coop.
Suggested Features
The American Veterinary Medical Association says a coop needs the following items to meet chickens’ basic needs:
The American Veterinary Medical Association says a coop needs the following items to meet chickens’ basic needs:
- Appropriate floor space. Many experts say coops should provide at least 2 to 3 square feet of space per chicken inside the henhouse, and 4 square feet per chicken in the adjacent run.
- Proper ventilation
- Good quality litter. Wood shavings are excellent, straw should be checked for mold or contamination before using and hay is not recommended due to harmful mold spores and dust.
- Nest boxes should be in the lowest, darkest part of the henhouse.
- Perches and roosting bars where chickens sleep should be adequately high and spaced apart.
Purchase Design Plans or a Kit
If you’re comfortable using power tools but don’t have the necessary design skills, you can purchase plans for a coop and build it yourself. Some companies also sell the materials, with the exception of tools. Keep in mind shipping costs when ordering a coop kit — the weight of the lumber can drive up the cost. Many companies offer the option of building the coop for you.
Custom touches. This Penthouse model coop is by Carolina Coops. The paint was custom-matched to mimic the client’s residence in New York state. The henhouse measures 4 by 6 feet, with a 6-by-18-foot run. The company sells coop kits that include lumber, roofing and hardware; prefab panels that can be assembled by the homeowner; and custom coops built on site.
If you’re comfortable using power tools but don’t have the necessary design skills, you can purchase plans for a coop and build it yourself. Some companies also sell the materials, with the exception of tools. Keep in mind shipping costs when ordering a coop kit — the weight of the lumber can drive up the cost. Many companies offer the option of building the coop for you.
Custom touches. This Penthouse model coop is by Carolina Coops. The paint was custom-matched to mimic the client’s residence in New York state. The henhouse measures 4 by 6 feet, with a 6-by-18-foot run. The company sells coop kits that include lumber, roofing and hardware; prefab panels that can be assembled by the homeowner; and custom coops built on site.
In the Penthouse, a hinged horizontal panel drops down for cleaning the deep-litter system, which uses a thick bedding of pine shavings, industrial hemp fibers and high-density polyethylene and only has to be cleaned out about once a year, according to the company. The Douglas fir coops are stick-framed on site.
The inside of the Penthouse has roosting bars (in the middle of the photo) and a nesting box with a perch (lower left). The windows are framed with a marine-grade wood and backed with black PVC-coated 1-inch chicken wire or half-inch welded-wire hardware cloth. For harsh climates, the company offers polycarbonate window sliders that cover the screened windows.
Modified plans. Designer Elle Woeller, owner of Summerland Homes & Gardens in Boston, had a chicken coop built when she transformed her once-empty yard into gardens and raised beds. She found coop plans online but decided against ordering the kit because “to ship cost half the cost of the coop,” so she modified the plans and found someone to make it.
She and her husband painted the coop and designed the attached run near the garden. The one thing she would do differently next time is to make the door they use to access the run full-size, thus making the coop taller. The coop is big enough for eight chickens and has a back window for cross-ventilation.
She and her husband painted the coop and designed the attached run near the garden. The one thing she would do differently next time is to make the door they use to access the run full-size, thus making the coop taller. The coop is big enough for eight chickens and has a back window for cross-ventilation.
Doing double duty. The unique roof design of this coop in Santa Barbara, California, allows it to serve as a henhouse and also capture rain and funnel it to a rain barrel.
Designer Alex Wyndham built the coop using rough-sawn redwood for the siding and corrugated steel for the roof. He sells plans for the henhouse, which he says can be built by homeowners “with a few tools and a little building experience.”
Read more about this project
Read more about this project
Coop on the move. This “tractor”-style coop from Modern Coop can be moved around the yard. The kit includes components to be assembled by the homeowner. Siding is recycled cedar, with a metal or fiberglass roof panel, and there’s a large side-access door for cleaning. Segments for a mobile run can be added.
Have a Pro Build It
If you don’t want the hassle of constructing your own chicken coop, some design-build firms can do it. Consider hiring a pro that specializes in structures that house chickens. Many coop companies have multiple designs to choose from, and they can usually be customized.
High-tech coop. This spacious custom coop in North Carolina built by Carolina Coops uses solar power for the lights, exhaust fans, chicken door and video cameras. It has a rain barrel watering system and Wi-Fi.
If you don’t want the hassle of constructing your own chicken coop, some design-build firms can do it. Consider hiring a pro that specializes in structures that house chickens. Many coop companies have multiple designs to choose from, and they can usually be customized.
High-tech coop. This spacious custom coop in North Carolina built by Carolina Coops uses solar power for the lights, exhaust fans, chicken door and video cameras. It has a rain barrel watering system and Wi-Fi.
Tailored to the site. IB Crazy Coops in Southern California offers several dozen designs that can be customized. The company built this modern-style coop to match the landscape design and style of the customer’s house in Newport Beach, California. Measuring 11½ feet long by 42 inches wide and 6 feet tall, it was built with construction-grade materials, and the wood was milled and planed on site.
The coop features a door that folds down to double as a portal between the coop and the run, and half-inch aviary wire was used to protect from predators.
Tip: Whether using a pro or building it yourself, be sure pressure-treated wood is used only for the framing that touches the ground, and rot-resistant wood such as cedar or redwood for the rest of the coop.
Tip: Whether using a pro or building it yourself, be sure pressure-treated wood is used only for the framing that touches the ground, and rot-resistant wood such as cedar or redwood for the rest of the coop.
Room to roam. This spacious coop is located on a 2-acre-plus property on Sauvie Island, a semirural community of vineyards and you-pick berry farms about 10 miles from downtown Portland, Oregon. Measuring 312 square feet, the coop is part of a residential project built by Olson Design Build that also includes a house, barn and large vegetable garden.
Keeping peacocks out. This coop in South Miami built by Formgroup has automatic features and a mini door to keep local peacocks out.
The coop is equipped with an automatic feeder, watering system and solar-powered door for chicks to make their early-morning exit.
Rainwater for chickens. Zeigler Home Services, located in Georgia, builds custom chicken coops on site that are tailored to clients’ locations and other needs. The coop shown here integrates the henhouse and run in a 10-by-20-foot space. Built on a 10-inch nonmortared block foundation, the coop features vents in the eaves for air flow and a full-size door for humans.
The automatic chicken watering system utilizes a gravity-fed rainwater harvesting setup.
Model home coop. This attractive coop was built by Parkwood Homes for a model home constructed at Stapleton, Colorado, the master-planned community on the site of Denver’s old airport, as an example of urban farming and what could be done with large backyards. Logan Wilcox of Parkwood perused websites for coop inspiration and came up with a simple drawing with dimensions for his carpenter. The coop features T1-11 plywood panels for the siding and cedar shake shingles for the roof.
Repurpose a Building or Use Reclaimed Materials
Reclaimed wood and supplies from other projects can find new life as a chicken coop, and sometimes unused or underused structures outdoors can be transformed into homes for hens.
From shed to coop. Designer Jen Dalley repurposed an existing backyard shed in Ely, Nevada, into a coop for three hens (above and next three photos). Cedar boards placed diagonally were inspired by the existing structural cross-bracing.
Reclaimed wood and supplies from other projects can find new life as a chicken coop, and sometimes unused or underused structures outdoors can be transformed into homes for hens.
From shed to coop. Designer Jen Dalley repurposed an existing backyard shed in Ely, Nevada, into a coop for three hens (above and next three photos). Cedar boards placed diagonally were inspired by the existing structural cross-bracing.
Perches for the hens were made from branches of a bush that was removed from the run area.
Galvanized metal water and food containers hang from cables on a ceiling beam. The single nest box is 2 feet long by 1 foot deep, which Dalley says is plenty of space for all the chickens.
Dalley collects eggs from the nesting box through a hatch door that she can open from outside the henhouse.
Reclaimed and rustic. This handsome coop in a Chula Vista, California, backyard measures 5 by 10 feet and was built by San Diego Woodworks (now Salt Lake Woodworks since the company moved to Utah) to house five chickens. Constructed with 95 percent reclaimed wood, it matches the rustic decor of the other outdoor furnishings.
Grow crops. This coop in Philadelphia built by Janiczek Homes features a living roof and was built using all recycled material repurposed from other projects.
Coop on a court. In Hillsborough, California, homeowner Michelle Pettigrew bought an off-the-shelf coop that ended up being too small for her five chickens, so she relocated the coop to an unused ball court and built an enclosure around it to serve as a chicken run.
Each hen has a personalized nesting box. The canvas sail provides sun protection.
Read more about this project
Read more about this project
Reused materials. This coop in Florida was built by Formgroup from reclaimed doors, windows and lumber.
Scavenged wood. Conte & Conte used fallen branches from the wooded area around the property to create this rustic chicken coop in Connecticut.
See the rest of this property
See the rest of this property
Resources
- Aosom sells small, medium and large chicken coops at a wide range of prices, including some portable styles with wheels.
- My Pet Chicken sells an extensive selection of coop kits, supplies, chicks and fertile hatching eggs. Kit options include those with all supplies; prebuilt in panels that just have to be assembled; or fully assembled.
- The Garden Coop sells coop and run designs and optional hardware kits that don’t include lumber and other materials.
- Dare 2 Dream Farms in Lompoc, California, builds a variety of coops to order and offers delivery and installation to residents in Southern and Central California and the Bay Area. They also sell coop-ready chickens and chicks of various breeds.
- Modern Farmer has online instructions for building a coop.
- The website BackYard Chickens has users’ examples of a variety of coops, and some include instructions.
Tour coops for ideas. You can get inspiration from other chicken keepers on residential tours of coops. Most are self-guided, and many include a bike ride. There are tours in Silicon Valley; Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Davis, California; and Alameda, California.
Share: Do you have a backyard chicken coop? Post a photo and tell us about it in the Comments.
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I've never heard the hay comment mentioned in the article before. Anyone else ?
@salamoneg I have but in a different context - more like if you do use hay or straw or shavings make sure they aren't dusty. As I mentioned in my above post, I used both shavings on floor and hay for nests for many, many years in my 10'x12' hen house with no problems. Straw is a mite course for hens. They prefer something soft to sit on, just like humans, do. :)
Us rural folk tend to go more for function and use with easy for keeping clean and disease free. Urban folks tend to go more for looks and awesome sauce looking coops. They tend to buy and do before they educate themselves on all the diseases and problems that occur with poorly designed hen houses. A few of the coops above lack a good air flow which stagnates things which can promote problems. Where their water is place in regard to their food. Scratch is more like a treat than a balanced food source. How many nesting boxes and what cubic foot of space to supply and where to put them in relation to the roosts. Too large or too small make for unhappy ladies so production decreases just on space alone. Then there is properly balanced nutrition or there tends to be not only poor eggs but weak shells and problems with the gals. Then you should know how to remove a broken egg from inside a hen. If you don't she'll die. And that increases your expenses.
The title of the article led me to think there would be advice on the pros and cons of setting up a backyard chicken coop. Instead it just basically said, "Here are some ideas for your backyard chicken coop." I could just google that.