Chicken coops plans

April 27, 2003

The Mark I hoop coop. The coop is pulled by hand downhill to anew patch of grass, once or twice per day. The Mark II hoop coop, not shown,has the open end facing the direction of travel so the operator can seeinside while moving the pen. This reduces the number of broilers that getrun over by the back wall.

My wife Karen invented these simple chicken houses a couple of years ago,when she decided she wanted a pen she could walk around in, rather thanthe standard Salatin-style pens that are only two feet high. These pensare made from with lightweight cattle panels bent into a semicircle, attachedto a wooden bottom frame, and covered with a tarp. The ends are framedwith wood, with the entrance in the front end.

Lightweight stock panels are made out of heavily galvanized wire andare 16 feet long and about 4 1/2 feet high. They cost between $12 and $17at local farm stores. We use two-panel coops to make a roughly 8′x9′ coopwith a ridge height of about six feet. This is good for between 50 and75 broilers if you butcher them all at once. We butcher them over a periodof two weeks, always choosing the largest birds, and in this case the coopis good for up to 100 broilers, with care.

The panels are attached to the wooden frame with large galvanized staples.We use 2×4 lumber for the bottom frame and 1×4 lumber for the end framing.Diagonal bracing on the bottom frame, visible in the photo, is importantto prevent the coop from racking itself to pieces.

A partially framed Mark II hooop coop, with the bottom frame andback wall framing in place, but no diagonal bracing or front end yet. Notethat the bottom frame consists of two skids (in contact with the ground)and two sills (on top of the skids). This particular coop suffers fromexcessive amounts of sag in the sills, which should have been installedon edge.

The back end is covered with a tarp up almost to the top. A gap is leftat the top of the rear wall to let hot air escape. The front is keptentirely open, covered only with chicken wire. This should be heavy-duty1″ chicken wire, preferably Red Brand. 2″ turkey wire doesn’t last. Neitherdo cheap brands of wire. The easiest method of attaching the chickenwire is to use plastic tie wraps.

It’s best to use chicken wire on all four sides of the coop, going at least2′ high on the sides and 4′ on the front and rear. If you are going toraise turkeys in these pens, then the wire should go all the way tothe top on the front and rear, and 4′ up on the sides. Additional 1×4′sshould be added front and rear as well, to provide crash barriers to preventthe turkeys from working the chicken wire loose by jumping against it.

The door should be arranged as a lift-out hatch rather than hinged.It is our experience that doors quickly get ripped off their hinges.

The tarps can be attached to the wood framing with a staple gun andto the panels with plastic tie wraps.

The coop needs to be mounted on skids. That is, only two walls shouldbe in contact with the ground. The others should be at least 1 1/2″ offthe ground. 3 1/2″ is better. If the front and rear walls drag on the ground,the coop is very difficult to move and quickly becomes damaged. Also,broilers who are caught by the back wall tend to be crushed if it is draggingon the ground, but pop through unharmed to the outside if it is elevated.Flaps on the two elevated walls, made from old feed sacks, lengths of tarp,or rubber floor-mat material, will close off the gap and help keep predatorsout and broilers in.

The top of the hoophouse needs to be 100% waterproof. Away from the top,as the slope of the sides increases, the water has less tendency to dripthough even if there is a hole. Thus a high-quality silver top coveringthe top third of the roof, plus a cheap top covering the rest, will workalmost as well as the more expensive option of a silver tarp over everything.

Click here for a detailed description ofa Mark II hoop coop (PDF format).

Open Chicken Coops Work Best, Even in Winter!

Don’t be fooled by people who say that chickens need to be shut up tight all winter: an outdoor lifestyle is what the chickens need, year-round. And if they can’t go outside, they still need a light, airy, well-ventilated chicken coop.

The chicken coop plans on the market want you to build dank and stuffy chicken dungeons, which is exactly what they don’t need. Instead, you should read Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, the bible of open-air chicken coops for all climates. This book is an oldie but a goodie, going into every detail and answering every objection.

Everyone who has raised free-range or pasture poultry know how much they thrive with an outdoor lifestyle. Fresh-Air Poultry Houses shows you how the right housing can cling to these benefits even when the chickens have to stay indoors. Highly recommended.

More Chicken-House Info.

Back to the Free-Range Poultry Page.

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