Building a backyard chicken coop requires a little research and planning before getting started.  Below you will find a some of the things to think about with respect to the requirements and basic design principles before you start building, or even if you are considering buying a ready-made coop. Either way, if you are getting chickens you absolutely need to make sure you have a coop in place first!

Coop Requirements

• Plans can be bought or designed yourself. For our coop we did a lot of research online about design before we finally drew up our own plans.  
• You need to have a place in your yard where you want the coop to go. This will determine the size.  You also need to check with your local laws. In our town we are not allowed to have a rooster and there is a  maximum of five hens permitted (based on property size). There are also laws about how close to the property line the coop can be.
• We took pretty much took something from every plan we looked at in our research and fit it all together to work in our yard in the location we knew it was going in.  So basically our coop was designed specifically for the location where we have it, the number of chickens we planned on having, and the way we wanted it to look (it matches our house). 

Design Principles

• The coop house at 4' x 4' can hold up to 6 hens. There is a roost inside with a plexiglass side window over the egg boxes for light.
• ​The inside walls do have a thin layer of foam insulation. The roof doesn't, but it does have tar paper and shingles. 
• The inside walls of the coop are made of sheet plastic that would normally be used on walls in a bathroom. This was to make the coop easy to clean and it works!
• There are two vents near the roof peak: one in front and one in back. They are always open for fresh air which is very important.
• It has two hen boxes on the left side with a lifting (and locking) lid for easily collecting their eggs.  We felt two boxes were necessary and were right because they have worked out well.
• The house is lifted up and an 8' by 4' base was built to create an enclosed area.  This is so that even if we are not here to let them free range, they still have access to the outdoors.
• The house has a small inside door that lifts open and a ramp extends downwards for the chickens. We no longer close this door unless there is a very severe storm expected.  I can't even remember the last time we closed it.
• The entire coop, including under the bottom (so nothing can dig into it from below), is covered with the heavy duty wire mesh.  We then put plenty of sand and soil inside to cover up the mesh.
• Note that there is also a nice size front door on the house. This was initially for us  so that we could have easy access for cleaning, but the chickens love when we leave it open all day in the summer. It really lets the coop air out and they love 'jumping' in and out for fun.
• There is also outdoor perch. During the hot summer nights they mostly use the outside perch. 
• We added plexiglass on the top of the outside part because the first time it rained the outside part of their coop became a mud pit. This was not good and took quite a while to dry out.  We also added some plexi glass around the part under the house and halfway up all of the sides (not the screen door).  This helps keep them protected from heavy rains and winds all year round but still allows adequate ventilation. 

Coop Cost

• Our coop did not cost a lot of money because most of it was built from recycled wood and materials we in the garage. All we really had to buy was the insulation, six 8-foot 2 x 4's, some hinges and clasps, and the 1/4 inch galvanized wire mesh to wrap it in. Even the roofing material was left over from when we had our house roof re-done.
• Just know that we designed it so that it would be easy to build and we could use what we already had around!
• Basic materials: six 8 foot long 2x4's, TR111 for the outside, some trim wood, roofing paper and shingles, white sheet plastic for the interior walls and floor, caulk to seal up gaps etc., nails (duh), 2 hinges for egg box lid, 2 hinges for front door, 2 hinges for screen door, 2 hinges for the little interior door (it lifts up with a pull string), a handle with clasp for the front door, a clasp for the egg box, two slide locks for the screen door, a handle for the screen door, galvanized hardware cloth, plexiglass for the window and the sides of the exterior coop, corrugated plastic roofing for the top of the exterior coop, thin foam insulation for the walls of the coop, paint, and a lot of construction staples!

• Coops can be bought, however they can get expensive.  But buying  is an option :-)​

Check out our slide show of building the coop!
We built it in the spring of 2010 and it is still great 7 years later!

For information on  building a coop check out:  http://howtobuildachickencoopmanual.com

Thanks for visiting!
Check out more about our chickens on our page "Backyard Chickens" and follow our "Chickens & Eggs" board on Pinterest!
​Sincerely,

Well, we actually did it! We tried the open air coop method for the winter to date and so far it is a huge success!  We started out slow (one day at a time) because we weren't sure if it really was a good idea or how our chickens would react. But after only a few weeks we realized they were way healthier than ever before despite the fact that it had reached temperatures below freezing!

Ok, so what is an "open air" coop? Well, actually, the idea is that the coop is basically left open for fresh air all year long. Rather than just having a vent (which we do have at the front and the back), the coop is literally left open even through the winter.  

For our coop (pictured above) we simply just left the inside coop door open all winter (you can't see this door - the screen door you see would actually be closed every night to keep predators out). The little inside door faces south, but is in the shade so really doesn't get as much sunlight as we would have liked. It didn't matter though. The chicken coop was full of great fresh air and the chickens (five of them) shared a perch of 4 feet wide that is just above the inside door opening. They easily kept each other toasty warm on the perch each night!

Our girls are more healthy than ever before! Normally over the winter their combs (on top of their heads) would look pale and sickly. Their feathers would not look healthy and full. Not this year! They  are absolutely thriving, and I believe they are even happier!

The reason we think this method was so successful is the decreased moisture content and increased  fresh oxygen. Normally we would close the coop up each night and all the exhaling done by the chickens would stay inside the little 4 x 4 house with them. This would create a moist environment with high concentrations of carbonic acid (they exhale this) - neither of which is healthy for the hens.

Of course, I don't know what the results would be should the temperature go below zero degrees, however according to the book "Fresh-Air Poultry Houses" it still shouldn't be a problem! In fact, this book provided the general concept of a open air coop to start with and was my inspiration to give it a try! It's a great book and well worth the read!

​Our future hen house will definitely be designed with this fresh-air concept in mind!

Thanks for visiting!
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Sincerely,

If you've purchased eggs lately you may have noticed how many different options there are.  White, brown, organic, cage-free, the labeling on the cartons can be daunting, especially if you don't know what the labels actually mean.  A lot of the labeling is actually bogus and means nothing.  For example, "All Natural" and "Farm Fresh" really  have no officially defined meaning.  And "no added hormones" is only true because it's been the law for  more than 50 years! Other terms have been defined and many people think they know the meaning, but do they really?  Think about it: do you really know the difference between cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised?  Are all cage-free requirements the same?  Why do some eggs cost significantly more than others? Which eggs are better?  Which eggs are healthier for my family?  So many questions lead to confusion and it is just easier to buy the cheapest eggs and move on. Trust me, I've been there.  My goal today is to very simply describe the basic  differences between the third party certifiers so that you can at least make a somewhat more informed decision when purchasing eggs for you and your family.

Two things to understand when purchasing eggs:

1. Not all eggs are third party certified.
2. Third party certified eggs are better because they had to meet stricter standards.

In general, the eggs that come from companies that are third party certified are the most humane to the chickens and in turn this means they will also be the healthiest eggs for you and your family! This is because they are the companies that will have the strictest rules in place regarding what the hens are fed, how much space each hen has, whether they can go outside or not, when and if antibiotics or other medicines may be used, and if they allow  beak cutting.

OK.  So where does that leave us when it comes to buying eggs?
There are five third-party egg certifiers, some with more than one area of certification (so eleven certifications total).  I started out by making a spread sheet to compare them all but there were so many differences and so many levels it just became too much.  What I have done here is list them in order from what, in my opinion, is the worst at the top to the best at the bottom.  I have included a brief description of why I chose to place them where they are in the 'pecking order' (yes, pun intended). If you want to read the actual requirements for each certification I have included the links under 'sources' at the bottom of this post.

11.  United Egg Producers Certified Caged (see example of certification stamp below)

• Battery Cages (67-86 square inches per bird - about a half a square foot per bird!), beak cutting is  permitted (they do NOT leave the cages)

10.  American Humane Certified Caged

• Enriched Colony Cages (.8 square feet per per bird - more space than battery caged), beak cutting is permitted (they do NOT leave the cages)

  9.  United Egg Producers Certified Cage-Free

• 1 square foot per bird, outdoor access not required, beak cutting is permitted

  8.  American Humane Certified Cage-Free

• 1.25 square feet per bird,  no outdoor access required, beak cutting is permitted
  

  7.  Certified Humane Cage-Free

• 1 - 1.5 square feet per bird, no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, no outdoor access required, beak cutting is permitted

  6.  Food Alliance Certified Cage-Free

• 1.2 - 1.5 square feet per bird, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in feed (except milk), beak trimming is permitted, toe-clipping and dubbing are NOT permitted, minimum of 8 hours of natural daylight required per day, outdoor access is not required

  5.  Certified Humane Free-Range

• 1 - 1.5 square feet per bird (indoors), no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, must have outdoor access minimum 6 hours per day weather permitting, 2 square feet outdoor space per bird, beak cutting is permitted.
  

  4.  American Humane Certified Free-Range

• 1.25 square feet per bird (indoors), must have outdoor access minimum 8 hours per day weather permitting, 1 acre of outdoor area for every 2,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is permitted.

  3.  American Humane Certified Pasture-Raised

• 1.25 square feet per bird (indoors), must have outdoor access minimum 8 hours per day, 2.5 acres of outdoor area for every 1,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is permitted.

  2.  Certified Humane Pasture-Raised

• 1 - 1.5 square feet (indoors), no growth promoters, antibiotics only for specific medical reasons, no animal by-products in food, must have outdoor access minimum 6 hours per day weather permitting, 2.5 acres of outdoor area for every 1,000 birds (1/4 must be accessible at any one time to allow for rotational grazing), beak cutting is NOT permitted (that is why this trumps #3 even thought the outside time is two hours less).

  1.  Animal Welfare Approved Pasture-Raised

• 1.8 square feet per bird (indoors), no GMOs or animal byproducts or fishmeal in food, herbal, homeopathic, non-antibiotic methods preferred, must have outdoor access minimum of 50% of daylight hours, beak cutting is prohibited as are all other forms of physical alterations, flocks must be less than 500 total hens.

So  take a look at the eggs in your refrigerator...ARE THEY CERTIFIED, and if so, by who?

And the absolute best eggs?  Raise your own backyard chickens!  You will know exactly what they eat, how they are taken care of, and if they are happy or not :-)

Sources:
How to Read Egg Carton Labels (The Humane Society of The United States)
Certified Humane Levels 1-3 Requirements (pdf file)
American Welfare Approved Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Enriched Colony Cages Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Cage-Free Requirements (pdf file)
American Humane Certified Free-Range & Pasture Requirements (pdf file)
Food Alliance Certified Requirements
United Egg Producers Certified Levels 1 & 2 Requirements (pdf file)

We have raised backyard chickens for about five years now. Our first group of chickens were already full grown when we brought them home about five years ago so they really required nothing but food, water, and a safe place to live and sleep.  We only have one of those original chickens still living so we decided it was time for more so this spring we brought home four baby chicks that were only four weeks old and that meant we had a lot to learn in order to take care of them properly.  

The first thing we learned was that they still needed heat.  For the first week of a chicks life the temperature needs to be about 95 degrees.  The temperature can be decreased by five degrees every week after that so this meant that at four weeks old they still needed to be kept at a temperature of about 80 degrees.  Considering the temperatures were still dropping every night this meant keeping the heat lamp on them for a while.  Lucky for us this was not  a problem since we already had the heat lamp set up in the coop from the winter.