Before you even get chicks, you should be planning out your chicken coop! It gives your flock a safe, dry, and clean area to sleep, eat, and get away from inclement weather. A chicken coop needs to have a few key elements in order for it to be functional and effective. I have built two chicken coops and have learned from each one what makes an effective coop. These chicken coop building essentials will help you lay down the foundation for a coop that meets the needs of your flock!

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Build or Buy?

I am gearing this post more towards chicken raisers who want to build their own coop, but most of these concepts still apply if you are looking to buy a pre-built chicken coop as well. Some pre-built chicken coops may need to be remodeled or expanded.

One other thing to think about is whether or not you need a building permit. A building permit allows you to erect another structure on your land and may be required by some counties. Now, lets discuss some of the key elements of chicken coop building essentials!

Coop Location

Where your chicken coop is located is an important aspect to consider before you begin building. The placement of your coop can really effect how healthy your flock is and how effectively you can care for your flock. First consider if there are any property lines that you need to be aware of and make sure that your chicken coop will be entirely on your property.

Next, consider the condition of where you want to put your chicken coop. Avoid places that become muddy or damp. Wet places can harbor parasites and disease. You also don’t want to be walking through mud on your way out to care for your flock! If your area is known to have a high water table, you may consider building your coop up off the ground a few inches.

You will also want to evaluate how well you will be able to access the coop in bad weather (snow, rain, ice). How far away is the coop from a water source or feed storage? How about manure removal? Consider all these things when deciding where to put your coop.

Sun or Shade?

A common concern that many chicken keepers have is if they should place their coop in the sun or in the shade. In general, it is better to place your coop in the shade. Chickens can handle colder temperatures much better then they can handle warm temperatures. Place your coop near a natural wind break, like a grove of trees or beside a barn. This can help during the winter or if you live in a windy area.

Build the coop so that the front of it (the side with the chicken door) is facing the south. Avoid putting windows or doors on the north side of chicken coop to prevent cold drafts or precipitation from blowing in.

Coop Size

It is essential that your coop has enough space for the amount of birds you are getting! Even though the chickens won’t spend all of their time in the coop, allowing enough space per bird ensures that you prevent bullying or boredom habits. A roomy coop is also easier to clean. Cramped quarters is the perfect place for disease and parasites to thrive.

I advise you plan on 4-5 square feet per bird to ensure that you have enough space in your coop. Bantams should be allowed 2-3 square feet per bird. Feeders, waterers, nesting boxes, and roosts will require some space too. Always allow extra room in case you end up adding to your flock (chicken math is real!).

Another option you may consider is having a storage, or people area, in your coop. This area would be for storing feed, cleaning supplies, and give you an area to enter without having to enter the chicken area. In one of my coops, I have a full size door that separates the people/storage area from the chicken area. Here are a few reasons that I like having this extra space:

• it prevents chickens from escaping when I enter the coop
• you can store the chicken feed in the coop within easy access
• it allows me to complete most of my chores quickly and efficiently because all of my cleaning supplies are easily accessible

There is one downfall to storing chicken feed in your coop. You have to be extremely careful with preventing any feed spills or leaving a feed bag open. Rodents quickly learn that chicken coops make a great home and often have free food! You don’t want disease and parasite infested rodents in your coop. Storing feed in galvanized tins and cleaning any feed spills up immediately will help prevent rodent problems.

Building Materials and Layout

What you use for building materials depends on how much money you want to spend, what you have on hand, your skill level, and the amount of time you plan on putting into the coop. The obvious building material is wood, and it does make an effective and appropriate building material. Whatever building material you use, just make sure that it is safe and can be built into a sturdy chicken coop for your flock.

The design of your chicken coop is where you can get creative, but don’t go over board! Your chicken coop should be pleasing to the eye but it should also meet the needs of your chickens. Yes, your chicken coop can be painted, sided, have gables, or a cupola. However, your chicken coop should still be functional. It should be designed around the concept of being easy-to-clean and predator proof.

Here are a few key design tips to keep in mind:

• have the chicken door on the south side of the coop
• include a full size door so that you can easily access inside the coop
• install windows, especially on the east and west sides of the coop
• avoid putting windows across from or above the perches to prevent drafts
• block or avoid having shelves, edges, or rafters that chickens may like to roost on
• avoid having dark corners in your coop
• make it easy-to-clean

For more chicken coop design recommendations, check out How to Design a Chicken Coop!

Coop Roofing and Flooring

The roof of your coop should be secure and sturdy. You can choose to shingle your chicken coop’s roof or use other roofing material. Both of my coop’s are roofed with rubber and tin. The chicken coop roof should be predator proof as well. Roofing for the enclosure should also be considered. I use the same roofing for my enclosure as I do for my coop.

The floor of your chicken coop should be flat and solid, not wire or slated. Solid flooring is much more predator proof and healthier for your chickens. It allows you to lay down a thick layer of litter in your coop, which makes cleaning much easier. The floor in both of my coops is wood. Putting down a layer of vinyl flooring over the wood floor makes cleaning out the litter easier too.

Coop Ventilation and Lighting

A well ventilated coop is essential to keeping a happy, healthy flock. Good ventilation ensures proper air flow through the coop and can prevent ammonia smells from building up. It also helps with temperature control inside the coop, promoting air flow in the warm months and preventing moisture build up in the cold months. There are several ways to achieve proper ventilation.

Having windows that can be opened and closed according to the weather is helpful. Ridge vents or ventilation holes near the top of your coop encourages air flow. Provide a way of ventilation on all four sides of your coop, whether that be through windows or air flow vents.

One thing to keep in mind is that while you are achieving good ventilation, you still want your coop to be predator proof and free of drafts. By keeping ventilation vents/holes at the top of your coop, you can prevent drafts from bothering the chickens at floor level. Cover any ventilation vents/holes with hardwire to prevent predators from sneaking in. It’s a good idea to cover your windows with hardwire cloth as well.

Light inside the coop is essential, especially if you are raising chickens for their eggs. Your coop should be well lit with natural light, or artificial light when needed. Plenty of windows will ensure that natural light finds its way into your coop. Covering ridges or gables with clear Plexiglas will also allow in additional natural light.

Because hens need 16 hours of light per day to lay good, you may choose to install artificial lights in your coop. Use LED rope lights to provide additional lighting in your coop. Rope lights eliminate the potential fire hazard that open light bulbs pose and they also provide a softer light.

Coop Amenities

The inside of the chicken coop should have a few essential features. You can also include a few extra features that make cleaning and maintaining the coop easier.

Nesting Boxes: 

Nesting boxes are critical if you are raising laying hens. Hens instinctively look for a quiet, dark place to lay their eggs and nesting boxes will provide them with a safe, clean area that you can easily access. I advise that you keep the nesting boxes inside the coop. Unless you have a secure way of latching outside-accessible nesting boxes closed, they can provide a nice entry for predators.

You should provide 1 nesting box per 4-5 laying hens. Chickens will nest in just about anything that is dark and has soft litter, but there are some general size guidelines you can follow:

• large breeds- 14″ wide x 14″ high x 12″ deep
• medium breed- 12″ wide x 14″ high x 12″ deep

The nesting boxes should be lined with clean litter and have a rail running along the outside. The rail allows the hens to easily access the boxes. It should be no farther then 5″ away from the nesting box edge to discourage roosting on the rail.

Position your nesting boxes so that they are lower then the roosts, this will encourage the chickens to sleep on the roosts, not in the nesting boxes. Chickens instinctively look for high places to sleep.

Roosts:

Providing roosts inside the coop gives chickens a safe place to sleep at night. There are two different kinds of roosts you can use: a single board that runs parallel to a wall or a ladder roost, which extends up and down and looks like a ladder. Two by four foot boards with sanded edges make good roosting material. Round roosting material, like dowels and skinny tree branches, should be avoided.

Allow 8-12 inches of roosting space per chicken. The roosts should be no higher than 2-3 feet off the ground, but should still be higher than the nesting boxes. Lower roosts are more important if you are going to get heavier chicken breeds who need lower roosts to prevent leg injuries. Lighter chicken breeds will prefer higher roosts.

Droppings Boards:

Dropping boards are like a shelf that is positioned below the roosts to catch any droppings (poop) from when the chickens sleep. They making cleaning the coop much easier and help prevent ammonia smells. The droppings board should extend 6-7″ beyond the roosts on either side and should be installed 4-5″ below the roosts. You can also fashion dropping boards out of fabric or trays.

Feeder and Waterers:

Feeders and waterers can be kept either inside the coop or outside the coop in the chicken’s enclosure. If they are kept inside, you will need to be very careful with preventing or cleaning up any water or food spills. If they are kept outside, you will need to bring the feed in at night and keep it in a rodent free area.

When you are planning the size of your coop, make sure you plan out where your feeder and waterer are going to be placed. Depending on how many chickens you are going to raise, you may need more than one feeder or waterer.

How much space to allow for feeders and waterers varies depending on what type of feeder or waterer you are using. You can make homemade ones that mount right to the wall, or you can get hanging feeders and waterers that hang from the ceiling of the coop. Wire and carabiners work well for rigging up hanging feeders or waterers.

I don’t advise keeping feeders and waterers at ground level because they can easily become filled with litter and poop. That would make them unsanitary for the chickens to eat or drink out of.

Electricity:

Having electricity out at your coop may seem like a hassle and even un-necessary, but having electricity in the coop is actually very helpful. Here are some reasons why I advise you get electricity out at your coop:

• allows you to provide supplemental light for laying hens during the winter months
• provides a way for you to plug in water heaters to keep waterers from freezing
•  helps make cleaning the coop easier because you can use a vacuum, power washer, leaf blower etc…

Make sure that your electricity wiring is properly rigged up to prevent any fire hazards. Also make sure that chickens can not peck at, get tangled in, or trip over any wires or electrical outlets.

Doors:

While doors may seem like an obvious necessity, I do want to talk about how many doors and what type of doors you can use. Your coop should, of course, have a chicken door. A chicken door is a small door that leads into the enclosure that chickens can use to access inside and outside the coop. It should be big enough to accommodate the biggest chicken, but it does not need to be a full size door.

Having a full size door installed in your coop as well makes entering the coop much easier for you. I have two full size doors in my coop, one that leads from outside to the storage/people area, and one that leads from the storage/people area to the chicken area.

You may not realize, but there are different types of doors you can use. Full size doors should be sturdy and latch securely so that no predators can get in. Screen doors can be used, but they should be installed with a storm door as well.

As far as the chicken door goes, you can make your own, or you can buy an automatic chicken door. Automatic chicken doors can be programmed to open and close at specific times so that you don’t have to remember to open and close the chicken door.

I highly recommend that you invest in one of these doors! They come in handy if you want to leave for a night or if you are going to be gone during the evening. If you do choose to use an automatic door, make sure you leave an opening the right size to install the door. Also, unless the door is solar powdered, you will need a way to rig up a trickle battery to make sure the door is always charged.

The Enclosure

I believe that every coop should have an enclosure. Even free-ranging chickens should be provided with an enclosure in addition to a coop. An enclosure allows your chickens to have more space and gives them a place to roam even in bad weather.

An enclosure should be fenced in and covered with weather proof roofing. It should be attached to the coop and have a chicken door that allows access to both the coop and the enclosure. The chicken door should have a gradually sloping ramp that leads from the door to the ground so that the chickens don’t have to fly to access their coop.

Provide 8-10 square feet of enclosure space per bird. Allowing plenty of space per bird will prevent boredom habits from forming and encourage more activity in bad weather.

The enclosure should be fenced in with predator proof wiring, such as hardwire. You can also use RedBrand fencing and rim the lower part with hardwire for added predator proofing. A thick layer of litter or sand should cover the bottom of the enclosure. You can add enrichment items to your enclosure to provide a fun area for your chickens to play in! Here are some of my favorite enrichment ideas:

• stumps, logs, and branches
• chicken swing
• dust bath area
• roosts

If you are keeping your feeder and waterer outside, make sure there is a clean area to place them in the enclosure. They should be in an area where they will not get filled with dirt and poop and where they will not get wet with precipitation. Predators and rodents should also not be able to access outside feeders and waterers.

Predator Proofing

Regardless of the design of your chicken coop, any chicken coop should be properly predator proofed. The chicken coop should be a place that your chickens can go for protection, especially during the night. Here are some things to consider when evaluating if your coop is predator proof:

• hardwire is sturdier than chicken wire, so use hardwire whenever possible
• secure hardwire over windows and any ventilation holes
• examine the coop for any small holes that weasels could sneak through
• place a hardwire apron around the perimeter of the coop and enclosure to deter digging predators
• make sure all doors and windows can be securely latched and that a predator (especially raccoons) can not open them
• cover the enclosure to protect against flying predators
• you may want to invest in NiteGuard if night time predators are a common problem in your area

To install an apron around your coop and/or enclosure, you will need to dig a trench around the perimeter. The trench should be at least a foot deep and 1-2 feet wide. Then you will need to fasten hardwire to the edge of the coop/enclosure and lay it down in the trench, extending it 1-2 feet away from the coop/enclosure. Then fill the trench back in and securely tamp down the dirt.

For more tips on predator proofing the coop, check out my post on Predator Proofing the Chicken Coop!

Coop Sweet Coop!

Hopefully you now have a good idea of all that needs to be considered when building a chicken coop! It requires planning, thought, and a lot of hard work, but your flock will appreciate a nice safe, clean coop. Knowing that your coop is predator proof and provides all the chicken necessities will give you a peace of mind when raising and managing your homestead flock!

If you are starting your flock by raising baby chicks, be sure to check out my post on Setting Up a Brooder. It outlines all the essentials of a functional brooder for your chicks to spend their time in before they head out to the coop!

Also, make sure you are a part of our modern pioneer newsletter community for weekly tips on raising a homestead flock! Feel free to reach out with any questions you have about your flock!

by Alexa