I just purchased 6 chicks and I need to build a coop for them. Can anyone point me to a web-site that has plans for building a coop. Or does anyone have any plans they could share with me.

Thanks,
- Jay

Jay, almost any slanted box design would work, but here are some things keep in mind.

1. Window should allows for a lot of light most of the day and try to point it away from the direction of neighbors (to deflect crowing projection). Sun kills bacteria and helps with egg production. The window should also should provide good ventilation.
2. Slanted roof for rain runoff.
3. Raized floors so that predators can can't get under it unseen, and you can save a chick or a hen stuck under there in an emergency.
4. Something tall enough for you to walk into without bending too much.
5. Try to get a book about chicken tractors. These are not bad housing ideas for the mild months of the year.

ONE SHALL have more than 6 chickens :))))), so plan ahead. I have an 8 X 12 X 9-8 coupe with a nest box attached from the outside to save space. I have an electric outlet (a must), lights, 6 inches deep pine shavings, roost 3 feet off the ground, a door and concrete floors. It looks like a little shed. I have 14 birds living inside of it and they would feel crowded if not for the range outside (little brats :) ). Becaue it is large enough, sometime I brood little chicks there too.

Check out a local library. I bet there are a lot of chicken books and most of them would have a design to offer. I find that the less clutter you have in the coop, the easier it is to keep it looking clean and smelling good.

Hope that helps a little, and good luck.

I built my hen house by using an old 10X12 shed. Made a big screen door to fit the open doors. That way during the day they have fresh air and sunlight and at night I can close it up. They also have an acre of land for free range. I cut an opening on the side of the shed for their entrance. It has power hooked up to it and I used storebought metal shed shelving covered in straw for nesting areas with about a foot depth of straw on ground. I installed 2X4's for roosting. All and all it cost nearly nothing to build and is very easy for cleanup. Works great!

If you use the keyword search function there are many discussions of coop design and construction. Readers would probably be glad to answer specific questions, too.

When I first got into this, I built a little coop out of old wood scraps that I felt was reasonably secure. Then we had the chicken masacre of '96. Forty Americauna hens and two roosters who were just about old enough to lay --- all destroyed by wild dogs in a single night! I was devastated. My husband then built me a "chicken fortress". Eight by twelve framed in sreel pipe and covered in tin. I found industrial type laying boxes at a garage sale and feeders. The laying boxes have roosts on them. The entire builing is submerged 4 ft into the ground. There is a regular door for us humans on the outside and a small 1 ft sqare door for the chickens that opens out into the pen.It can be closed at night. The fence is surrounded by sheet of tin buried 2 ft into the ground to discourage varmits from digging under. Twice a week I toss cracked corn over the entire dirt floor of the house so that the chickens will work the floor and keep things fresh. Spring and Fall, I clean down the walls with a disinfectant and water hose. Then I replace the dirt ( old in the compost ) and put down fresh litter. This has worked well for us and has costed little as my husband is a welder and had the materials on hand.