Chicken Coop

This will be your most expensive part of chicken keeping. You can either build or buy one. I don’t recommend the prefab ones that you can find online as they aren’t made to hold up for long. If you are handy, I recommend building it yourself.

You want to make sure you build your coop big enough to hold all your chickens, then add more square feet because you will absolutely be buying more soon. You will want to have 4 square feet per chicken for your coop and 8 square feet per chicken for your run if you are not free ranging your chickens.

When you are adding in windows or ventilation, use welded wire secured with a screw and washer. Welded wire is, for the most part, predator proof. You will have predators but if you build your coop properly, your chickens will be safe. Add ventilation to the top of your coop or even exhaust fans as well. Definitely helps keep the humidity down. If you live somewhere it gets cold in the winter, humidity needs to be super low to make sure your chickens avoid frost bite.

For your run, I personally use one of the large dog kennels from academy. They are 8 x 10 but can be done larger, you would just have to fix the top with a different roof than what is provided.

If you don’t know what type of chicken coop you want, head over to etsy. Tons of people have made plans with supply lists available for an affordable price.