Four basic necessities for your chicken coop
In order to keep your chickens, healthy and happy they require sturdy and substantial housing that will keep them safe and secure. Your coop must provide for the four basic needs a chicken has:
- Protection from the weather.
- A place where they can lay their eggs.
- Somewhere to roost safely at night.
- To be protected from predators.
In addition to that, all chicken coops need four essential elements to it, which are:
- A solid floor
- A solid, leak-free roof
- Four solid walls
- A doorway
The coop should be raised off the ground one to two feet to prevent cold and dampness from coming through the floor. Unfortunately, this space also provides an ideal place for mice and rats to live. Both dampness and rodents can lead to your chickens becoming sick. It is also a good idea to put vinyl flooring down because this will make cleaning the coop incredibly easy. If the coop is large enough a accomodate a utility door, one should be added.
All doors and windows need to be fixed with two-step latches so that they are completely child-proof. Some animals, such as raccoons, are particularly adept at opening doors. Also avoid building the coop and the run at the bottom of a slope or hill otherwise everytime it rains the run is going to become excessively muddy.
Beyond the basic necessities, there are other things that every chicken coops should have. Let’s take a look!
Space
Whatever the number of chicken’s you have in your flock, it is essential that you provide enough space for them, both inside and outside the coop. More space is always better than less if you have the room and the finances. So how much room do you need?
If your chickens will have access to the outside the basic guideline to work from is to allow a minimum of at least 4 square feet for each chicken. Bear in mind, the addition of roosting posts and nesting boxes to the interior of the coop will help. This will create multi-level roosting space. Will your chickens be staying in more during the winter, or will they be inside the coop throughout the year?
If so, you must allow more space for them, 5 to 10 square feet per chicken will be required and beneficial. Of course the breed of chicken you keep will also play a factor in how much space you will need. The larger the breed, the more room it requires. If chickens do not have adequate space, they can become aggressive.
To avoid this and other troublesome behaviors, build as large a coop as you can possibly afford in the space you have available, or keep the number of hens down accordingly.
Ventilation
Chicken coops need plenty of ventilation all year round. A continuous flow of fresh air is vital to expel humid and damp air. All the vents should have a draft-proof cover of some kind over them, giving the option of being closed as needed. They should also be covered with hardware cloth to prevent predators from getting in.
There is a distinct difference between a chicken coop that is properly ventilated and one that is just drafty. Drafts will cause both frost and condensation to appear inside the coop. This will render any insulation that your coop has useless.
Heat and moisture
Chickens produce a lot of heat, ammonia and moisture continuously making ventilation essential all the time. Good ventilation is needed to prevent the buildup of ammonia that the droppings produce. If you can smell ammonia inside the coop, even at low levels, there is enough to cause damage to the chickens lungs and respiratory tract. The coop is in need of more ventilation in order to expel these fumes. Without it, they are at risk of breathing problems.
Chickens also produce an amazing amount of water vapor from both their droppings and breath which will make the air inside the coop rather humid. This increased humidity can make your birds more prone to respiratory disease.
The vents at the top of the coop, near the eaves of the roof, will stay open all the time even in the winter and during the night. Weather conditions can change rapidly. It is a good idea to have plenty of ventilation options around the coop that can be opened and closed depending on the weather and temperature.
Ventilation
Ventilation is also needed to remove heat from the chicken coop during the summer. Chickens thrive best at a temperature below 75 degrees F. 90 degrees and above will cause the hens to suffer from heat stress and the risk of death..
Therefore ventilation is essential to keep the inside of the coop as cool as possible so that it does not exceed the temperature outside. In warm weather, drafts are good and will provide the chickens with a very welcome breeze. In the summer, vents lower to the floor of the coop are beneficial. These vents can can be closed during the winter preventing the chickens from being exposed to cold drafts.
In autumn and winter, when your chickens tend to spend more time inside the coop, is the time when good ventilation is particularly important. The air becomes humid and damp a lot quicker which increases the chance of respiratory problems and frostbite. Chickens are able to endure the cold and not be susceptible to frostbite as long as the air inside the coop remains dry.
Insulating your coop against heat loss will help reduce the amount of cold air allowed in, without making it excessively cold for the chickens. If there are strong winds, heavy rain or snow or just immensely cold, it is ok to shut some of the ventilation for a little while, but not completely. Some ventilation should be maintained regardless of the weather as long as there are no unwanted drafts.
Feeders and Drinkers
One of the most important jobs you will do for your chickens, without doubt, is to provide them with clean food and water every day.
Feed
Food needs to be kept clean and dry. It must be put into a feeder of some kind and not thrown onto the floor. There are many different kinds of feeders available to buy, such as galvanized feeding hoppers, automatic feeders and plastic feeding troughs. However, many of them are too low and may end up with wood shavings or chicken droppings in them which will contaminate the food.
Tubular PVC feeders are ideal as they remain full, are hard wearing and the chickens cannot deposit any droppings or kick any shavings into them. Chickens will need to be fed once in the morning and again in the evening. Any food they have not eaten should be taken up before the birds roost. Do not leave it in the feeders overnight as it will attract rats and mice.
Water
Chickens must have continuance access to fresh, clean water. Water containers are usually made of plastic and should be stood on a short pedestal, such as a cinder block. This prevents shavings and droppings from being kicked into it. The birds can jump up to the block when they want a drink. Throughout the winter the water will need to be checked regularly to ensure that it has not frozen.
During the summer months, chickens needs more water. There should be a waterer inside the coop as well as outside in the run. It’s best kept in a shaded area where it can remain cool. They must be replenished with fresh water every day. If left in the waterer for longer than a couple of days, it will begin to go stagnant. It will turn green in color and become full of bacteria running the risk of making your chickens ill.
Nesting Boxes
If you are keeping chickens for the eggs, your coop will need nesting boxes. You should have one nest box for every three laying hens in your flock. These need to be raised off the ground a minimum of one to two feet. The nest boxes themselves should each be at least 12 x 12 inches square. The front should be low enough so that the chicken has to step over it to get in and out.
Nesting boxes can be made of wood, plastic or metal. Plastic and metal nest boxes can be easier to clean and may be scrubbed and sanitized. Wooden ones are easy to make, but can be more difficult to clean. There are so many things that can be used as nest boxes such as:
- plastic tubs
- large buckets laid on their sides
- old drawers, etc.
As long as whatever you use is lined with shavings and straw and attached directly to the wall to prevent them from falling over, the chickens will undoubtedly use them.
Roosting Space
Chickens roost at night like any other bird and they like to be up off the ground. To accommodate their needs, your coop will need at least five to ten inches of roosting space for each chicken. You should also create a gap of at least 10 inches between each one.
The lowest perch should be at least a foot off the ground and staggered, like a ladder. Each rung or bar should be spaced several inches apart. Roosting perches should also be at least two feet from the roof of the coop. Chickens need enough room to jump around without hurting themselves.
Perches, like nesting boxes, can be made of almost anything. Making them from 2 x 4’s allows the chickens to cover their feet with their feathers, keeping them warm and preventing frostbite during cold weather. PVC piping should not be used for roosting perches. The PVC is too slippery and may prevent the hens from adequately gripping the perch.
Protection From Predators
A chicken coop can be attacked from every angle – from underneath, from above and from all four sides. There are many predators that will pose a threat to your flock. Depending on your location, it may include foxes, eagles, hawks, raccoons, rats, mice, weasels and coyotes.
Rats and mice will be attracted to the coop through the chicken’s feed and water. They will waste no time burrowing into the coop from underneath it, therefore the coop must have a solid floor to stop them from doing this.
Wire vs. cloth
Chicken wire is not the best thing to use for covering vents or for your run. It is not totally predator-proof because the holes in the wire are quite large. This provides enough space for small animals such as rats, mice and weasels to squeeze through. Larger creatures, such as foxes, raccoons and coyotes may get a paw through, causing harm to one or more of your chickens.
Hardware cloth is a much better alternative to secure every vent and window. Although it is more expensive than standard chicken wire, hardware cloth has a much smaller square mesh. It’s worth it because it makes it more difficult for predators to get through. Ideally, the mesh should have a gap which measures a quarter of an inch to half an inch in size, but no bigger.
The run fencing should be buried below the surface of the soil to a depth of at least 12 inches (1 foot) around the entire perimeter. This may prevent predators from digging underneath.
Use the same hardware cloth for the roof and sides of the run to prevent hawks, eagles and other birds of prey from swooping down and grabbing one of your chickens. It will also prevent smaller birds from socializing with your flock. Wild birds they can be harbingers of diseases and parasites.
Protection From The Elements
The coop will need weatherproofing to preserve it against the wind, rain and sun. The outside of the coop should be painted with a hen-safe timber paint to make sure that their home will not rot and last for many years.
It must be free from any leaks so that the inside of the coop does not get wet. The roof construction should either be an A frame or be higher at the front and lower toward back allowing rain water to run off. I would recommend a ½ inch plywood roof covered by either galvanized corrugated steel or asphalt roofing. This will protect it and ensure that it is watertight.
Bottom line is, you want solid, safe, watertight construction for the health and safety of your chickens.
The Chicken Run
Chickens should be allowed to be chickens, doing what happy chickens do.
A coop should always have a chicken run connected to it, allowing your chickens access to the outside world. They can scratch around in the dirt, take dust baths and relax in the sunshine safely. The more space you can give to the run the better.
You should allow a minimum of at least ten square feet for each chicken. The sides of it should be made from hardware cloth and be buried below the surface of the ground. If possible bury it at least 12 inches deep to deter burrowing predators. It should also have a covering made from hardware cloth to prevent attacks from above.
A simple pop-door can be built into the coop allowing the chickens to go in and out as they please. The door can be fixed so that it stays open all day and secured at night for safety.
By furnishing your chickens with a clean environment in which to live, safe from predators, with access to a daily supply of fresh food and water, your hens will have the best life possible. There is no reason why they cannot be healthy and happy.
