Chicken Coop Building Mistakes

It is always exciting when you decide you want to build a chicken coop. You have a feeling like no other. You will embark on a project that will result in a finished product that you yourself created. You will take pride in not only what you created but it will serve as a reliable shelter for your chickens for years to come.

However, one thing that you could fall victim to is making mistakes. But wiht the right preparation and Chicken Coop Plan, these mistakes can be avoided. Admittedly, this article is more geared towards beginners or coop building rookies. Nevertheless, even if you are experienced woodworker or at building a chicken coops, then I suggest you still take a look at what I wish to share. There is nothing like brushing up on the basics. And I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having a set of quality plans complete with blueprints, diagrams, drawings, and material lists.

If you really wish to prepare yourself to be the best Chicken Coop builder that you can be, then I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Chicken Coop PlanGuide. Nevertheless, this is a very important topic so I am going to take some time to underscore some key lessons learned as I don’t want you to fall victim to construction mistakes when you begin building your own coop.

Common Coop Building Mistakes

Ventilation is a must. Especially during the warm summer months. Make sure whatever plans you are using or coop you are buying takes ventilation into account.

Failure to choose a coop that is designed to make it easy to clean. I believe I talked about this in a previous page. Nevertheless, if you are spending half your time cleaning up your chickens slop then raising chickens becomes less fun, trust me.

I would recommend that you keep the chicken food and water outside the coop.

Bigger is usually bigger. Don’t worry if you think your chicken coop is too big. You start running into the real problems when your chicken coop is too small and not when it is too big.

Accounting for your climate is extremely important. Your coop has to withstand a lot of things but mother nature is at the top of that list. If you have a lot of snow during the winter account for that. If you live in a really hot climate account for that. I think you get the picture.

Animals can kill your chickens or eat their/your eggs. Your coop has to withstand these animals. If you have a major snake problem consider building your coop on stilts. Install doors to keep other animals like raccoons, dogs, possums and weasels away from your flock. One misstep and your entire flock could be wiped out overnight.

Another common rookie mistake usually from someone trying to freestyle a coop is failing to realize that the ground where you plan on placing the coop has to be leveled.

THE NUMBER ONE ROOKIE MISTAKE = Buying your chicks before your chicken coop is even built. So many people do this and this is a pretty big misstep.