Building An A-Frame Chicken Coop

A backyard chicken coop is a practical idea for just about any household to plan. Free eggs will save you a heap of cash, and if you're up to it you can even breed chickens for meat. A common design of chicken coop is the a-frame. This post gives you some pre-construction recommendations, and explains the next phase to simple, successful a-frame chicken coop plans.

Flock And Coop Sizing

Naturally it is important to give your chickens with enough space to graze. An A-frame coop will generally support around 5 chickens. You might consider a bigger design if you're not prepared to build this style of coop large enough to give at least 3 square feet per chicken.

Other very simple coop choices include:

- The "chicken ark", which is basically a 2-storey a-frame coop.
- The box-shaped coop incorporating separate nesting area.

Many of the good quality, internet-based chicken coop ideas will provide you with multiple coop schematics inside the a single package deal.

Preparing Your Yard

It is often most straightforward to construct the a-frame chicken coop on-site, even though the majority of coops are designed to be portable. It simply will save you time, effort, and enables you to see how everything is going whilst you build. If something doesn't look right you can adjust it right there and then.

Before you start building, ensure that you do the following:

- Consider the amount of light is available in your back yard. Chickens have very delicate sleep cycles, and the sun is the ideal way of getting them in to a good rhythm. Position the coop making sure that there's ample sunshine each morning.

- What type of predators inhabit your geographic area? You're going to need to either predator-proof the coop. Alternatively, secure your entire yard. Foxes, snakes, and dogs are typically the most common invaders. Most chicken coop designs will explain to you how to incorporate the necessary safety measures.

- Consider the proximity to resources. For most people this will mean the water supply, though you might want to be close to electricity if you want to breed chicks. Installing a heat lamp will help a lot with this.

An A-frame coop is a cheap chicken coop to construct. It will have capacity for several perches, a nesting area plus a location to eat and drink.

Fresh air is critical for the health of your flock. It gives the necessary oxygen to the hens and also moves out the stale air. An A-frame coop built from wire mesh usually offers adequate ventilation.