Do Free Chicken Coop Plans Produce The Best Hen Houses?

Maybe you have decided to build a chicken shed or hen run yourself rather than buying a prefabricated one, to save money. Good idea. You must have looked at the costs for these online or in the shops. Fully assembled chicken sheds are very pricey things. Surely it makes sense to save yet more cash by getting hold of some free chicken coop plans as well? Yet the best chicken coop plans are not free, for good reason.

Plans should be proper blueprints with clear cut-to-size measurements and plenty of detail drawings for the difficult areas. Novice woodworkers will also need a full list of materials to build the coop, because it is quite difficult to prepare this accurately from drawings. You need to have the complete kit of parts assembled before you start to build the coop.

Then there is the matter of your chicken shed design. Do you already have it all worked out, or would you like to have a whole range of designs to choose from? The best chicken coop plans will include a whole heap of designs to meet every need and situation, some of which you might not have considered before. For instance, will your chickens have enough space? Be warm or cool enough? Easy to maintain and clean out? Well secured from predators?

The best chicken coops will have good protection from the weather, be warm enough in winter and cool enough in summer, be built to last, have all the necessary ramps and perches, have provision for egg collection, water dispensers and food trays – the list is quite a long one. Information and guidance on these and other important aspects of chicken shed design are usually conspicuous by their absence in free plans. Perhaps you could do with a few woodworking tips as well - good plans will include a lot of advice here.

Most people will want to do the best for their hens, which includes making the best chicken coop and ensuring that all vital elements have been included in your design to keep your hens healthy, safe and happy. A trial and error approach will be a complete waste of time, energy and money.

If you are saving perhaps $700 or more on building your own hen house, why skimp on the $40 or so you will spend on getting a good set of chicken coop plans to ensure you have the best chicken coop design that meets your particular requirements?

Free plans do not mean the best plans. There is no doubt that they will give you poor results compared to good hen house plans drawn up by chicken experts. A small investment in good chicken coop plans will repay itself many times over, and your hens will thank you for it too.

For help in finding the best chicken coop plans there is plenty of information available at BuildThingsDirect, as well as much more about keeping hens properly and laying happily.