How To Build A Chicken Coop & Raise Chickens At Home

If you’re looking for a DIY project that is not only great for your garden but also provides you with fresh food, you should consider building a chicken coop at home. The best part is there are plenty of easy ways to build a chicken coop  in your backyard.

These are some top tips from the experts in all things chicken coops and poultry related for building a chicken coop at home.

How to build a chicken coop

Before you get started building your chicken coop, there are a few questions you should ask yourself, such as:

How to build a door for a chicken coop?

What is the best wood to build a chicken coop with?

What is the cost to build your own chicken coop?

How to build an insulated chicken coop for cold nights?

Normally, the most practical and safe chicken coops are those that have been made using quality materials. So start by choosing a good wood like redwood or pine, then work on building out a frame and door with secure hinges.

When it comes to insulation, the best options for keeping your flock warm at night are cardboard, styrofoam, and straw. Use these to line the inside of your coop. It’s also important to use good quality fencings like a poultry electric fence or welded mesh to protect your flock from predators.

Chicken coop-building ideas

If you’re wondering what kind of chicken coop to build, there are plenty of different options. These are some of the most common ideas:

Chicken tractors

Chicken hutches

Electric chicken fence areas

Chicken Nesting boxes

Once you’ve settled on an idea, there are plenty of DIY plans and guides available online that will show you how to build a chicken coop step-by-step with pictures.

If you’re looking for easy ways to build a chicken coop or if you’d like to invest in a pre-built chicken coop, Long Mu Animal Husbandry Technology can help. Since 2008, we have been assisting customers in creating the best chicken coop setups for their backyards. Our popular chicken tractors come in a range of sizes and design suitable for various uses. Alternatively, if you’re keen to strap on the tool belt, we stock plenty of chicken accessories, electric net fencing for chickens, hutches, replacement parts, nesting boxes, and more. For those weighing up what it will cost to build your own chicken coop compared to buying a pre-built structure, our team of experts can assist with advice and tips.

After the chicken coops are finished, you also need to choose the available Chicken Feeders and chicekn Drinkers for raising your Poultry Chickens.

Novice chicken keepers may think of poultry feeders and drinkers as no more than a bowl or container that holds food and water. But this is not true at all. Selecting the right feeder for your poultry birds can save you a lot of money. It is also one of the most important decisions you can make for your flock. To help you out, we have gathered some important information to make your choice easier.

What are Chicken Feeders and Chicken Waterer?

Chicken feeders are essential equipment designed to hold your chickens’ feed and prevent waste.  Chicken waterers, also known as chicken drinkers, is an essential device that holds your flock’s water while keeping it cool and clean.

Sounds simple right? But it’s not quite that easy. Chickens often explore the world by using the tips of their nails. This means that they scratch a lot and in the process knock over all manner of objects. They will also peck objects out of curiosity and toss them around if they can, this includes the poultry feeder and poultry waterer.

Chicken feeders and drinkers need to be designed in such a way that it will be easy for the chicks to get to the food and water but also prevent them from being tipped over and creating all kinds of chaos in the process.

How Many Chicken Feeders and Chicken water drinkers are Enough?

There is no clear formula to figure out how many chicken feeders you will need. As usually 5cm of feeder space per chicken over the age of 6 weeks is enough. Others suggest that you should get multiple feeders to prevent overcrowding and fighting.

A chicken will usually drink around half a litre of water a day depending on the weather. On very hot days a chicken may drink up to a litre of water a day. For this reason, it is best to have at least one litre of water available per chicken every day. More is always better since accidents like spilling do happen. You also need to make sure that the water is clean and fresh every day. It is always best to have backup waterers just in case your chickens manage to knock the main waterer over or soil it completely.

Different Types Of Chicken Feeders and Drinkers

All poultry feeders and Drinkers have the same goal to feed your chickens with minimal waste, but they achieve this in many different ways.

Chicken Feeders Equipment:

Suspended Chicken Feeder

The suspended chicken feeder is one of the most popular chicken feeders among chicken keepers. This type of feeder is usually suspended from the roof of the coop and hangs at about the height of the chicken’s neck. This prevents the chicks from scratching and pulling at the base of the feeder too.

Treadle Chicken Feeder

Treadle feeders are heavy feeding boxes with a platform mechanism for chickens to stand on. The platform mechanism lifts the lid off of the feeder box to give the chicken on the platform access to the food.

This feeder was invented to keep bugs, mice, and rats out of the food, and keep the food fresh and protected from elements like rain, which make sure that they eat enough food to stay healthy.

Tubular/cylindrical Chicken Feeders and Drinkers

Tubular/cylindrical chicken feeders and drinkers are manufactured from new PVC and look like tubular chicken feeders or waterers. It was originally made from simple PVC piping but has now evolved into a highly refined product with different settings for the different feed types and an “anti-waste” grill that stops chickens from flicking less desirable food from the chicken feeder and drinker.

Chicken Drinkers Equipment:

Chicken Buckets, Poultry Container,s or Trough Chicken Waterers

This type of poultry waterer is quite simple. It is simply an open container that allows your hens to dip in their beaks for a drink.

Bell Chicken Waterer

Bell waterers are one of the most common chicken waterers among chicken keepers. They are usually quite cheap and normally do a good job of giving your flock access to water while keeping the water clean and from spilling.

Automatic Nipple Chicken Waterers

This type of chicken waterer is starting to become increasingly popular for chicken keepers with big flocks. They provide easy access to water, require almost no maintenance, contamination is very rare and the mess is kept to a minimum. This type of water can be set up from a self-contained source like a big drum or can be fed directly from the main water source.

Where To Place Your chicken feeder and waterer

It is definitely best to keep your chicken feeder in an enclosed space out of the rain. Doing this will save you a lot of money if you don’t have to throw away hands full of soiled, soaked grain. One of the best places to keep your chicken feeder is inside the coop. This way the feeder is protected from the elements and easily accessible to your chickens. It will also encourage them to return to the coop at feeding time which makes closing them up for the night much easier. Chicken feeders inside the coop work best if you have a big coop with lots of space.

Once you’ve chosen a waterer for your flock, you need to start thinking about placement. It is always best to place your waterer in a cool, shady location where it is easy to access and safe from extreme temperature changes. This will help to keep the water fresh for longer and the water will stay refreshingly cool. It is also a good idea to have a second or even third water around just in case the one waterer is too crowded, gets spilled, or even soiled beyond usable means.