Poultry rearing is a very common profession as well as a leisure time opportunity.
Poultry coops are essential structures for rearing hens with ease and convenience and are generally constructed in the backyard if you want to rear a few hens close to your home.
Poultry coops can be built from various shapes, designs and schemes.
These may be fancy, containing flower boxes, port holes, skylights and windows and are artistic in nature.
They tend to represent beautiful type structures and designs.
These coops may be structured in such a way to give them a fancy or funny design or you can also make them homey and personalize them according to your budget and taste.
Moreover, pre built poultry coops are also available or you can purchase chicken hutch plans from the internet and build your own poultry coops according to your experience level.
These structures can be built by recycling or reclaiming dog houses, sheds, and even a childs play house.
Some suitable box like structures can be modified to build coops if you want to build them from scratch.
The first and foremost aim of building a poultry coop is the survival of the chickens from the constant threat of predators, Other things include weather from which chicken or poultry requires protection.
There can be variety of structures that can be regarded as poultry coops but some of the most basic features of all poultry coops are discussed below.
It will help to have a basic concept of these structures and their essential components and the exact purpose of each component.
The first component of a poultry coop is the hen house.
The house is a covered area that will contain walls and a roof.
The second important component is the run.
This is the area where chickens can rest or hide at times when they are outside of the chicken house.
This area is often covered or fenced with the wires.
The third major component of a coop is the roost.
The roost is usually built from a piece of plywood and is generally installed almost half a meter above the ground to provide the chickens with a place to hang or roost.
Poultry coops must be installed with a nesting box so that hens can lay eggs inside it.
For commercial purposes, coops are installed with several nesting boxes, normally built to the size of a shoe box.
These important nesting boxes provide the chickens with the privacy that is required for laying eggs.
Another essential component of poultry coops is the chicken feeder, a container to hold feed for the chickens.
It is often built in the chicken run or it can also be placed inside the house.
The above mentioned components must be included in all poultry coops in order to make them functional, plus you must consider some other things while building these coops.
Location of the coop, convenience of cleaning the coop and size of the coop are very important to consider for successful construction of the hutch.
Chicken hutch plans can be utilized to build a chicken hutch with little effort and can be found online.
You can surf the internet to obtain some simple and easy blueprints to build your own chicken coop that requires little experience and expense.
Just make a list of the material that will be required for successful construction of these structures and simply get started.
It is recommended to select the best chicken hutch plan for your own needs by keeping the basic concept of the poultry coops in mind.
You should check that all the components discussed in the first section of this article are included in the building plans before selecting it.