If you have ever set out to build a small chicken coop, you will know it is a lot harder than you thought
If you are a natural at diy or carpentry, you may be able to just walk into a shop, buy a few parts and start hammering away. For the majority of us, it is very hard to blindly estimate how much wood, nails, fencing etc will be needed to build a coop we have no plans for.That’s where I went wrong. Generally speaking, trying to construct anything without a proper plan or design, is a failure in ther making.
After a number of weeks, frustration and lack of progress got the better of me. I had to decide whether I was going to pack it in…or find some proper plans and designs of how to build a small chicken coop without taking 10 years off my life! And the search began…What really frustrated me was that the plans I could find were really written for for experienced carpenters or engineers I thought. It just did not make sense to my untrained tradesman brain.
I decided to set down some criteria which I know I would be able to work with:
1) Simple, step by step, day by day plans
2) Easily adaptable plans for different spaces and sizes
3) Basic tool requirements
4) Cheap and easily available materials
5) The end result should be a practical coop in all aspects
6) Assistance or support if I need it
Sticking to my guns, I set out to find a plan or a design which could meet these requirements. It was not a simple task. I found many designs and plan, but very few of them met ALL of my demands.
I am excited to let you know that after an exhausting search, I did locate one or two brilliant chicken coop design plans together with some fantastic additional information which, I now know, I could not have succeeded without. If you are thinking about building a small chicken coop, do yourself a favour and make sure you research the options carefully and have a clear picture and dea in mind befor you start. Preparation is everything!
If you want to build your own small chicken coop, check out Gary Goldman’s blog called designachickencoop.com, and chicken coop pictures to give you ideas and more than 50 designs and other money saver tips. Also published at How To Build A Small Chicken Coop…Without Going Gray!.