Building a Chicken Coop – Open Air Design

I hope the information I am about to share will be helpful to novice and experienced carpenters as well. My dad said you can always learn something new every day and if you learn just one new thing every day you will become a wise person. I have tried very hard to follow my dad’s advice and now I want to share some things about building a chicken coop with you.

Building a chicken coop with an open air design has some benefits to consider. Many people don’t consider what good fresh air can do for your chickens. Fresh open air designs have so much to offer like hygiene. It might sound a little strange to hear about hygiene for a chicken but germs, insects, and parasites have a field day with coops that are not kept up and do not have good ventilation.

Along with open air design when you’re building a chicken coop you must change out your hay and straw inside your housing hutch, especially if there is no yard for your chickens to exercise and walk around to hunt and peck during the day. A yard gives the them a chance to get their blood flowing and relieve themselves in the yard and not in their hutch. But if you don’t have the luxury of having a yard because of space restrictions make sure to change out your hay and straw more often.

Open air designs can be a big advantage in the fight of parasites that love to attach themselves to your chickens if they have the right environment. Mites and lice are the most common parasite you will find trying to intrude in your coop without an open air design. Closed or badly ventilated housing are warm and moist because of the heat generated by your chickens and the lice and mites thrive in this type of environment. Building a chicken coop is not just about putting up a structure but is about keeping your chickens safe.

Another advantage to building a chicken coop in the open air is the breezes that flow through the coop help to let the ammonia build up inside. The ammonia can be very toxic to your chickens if not ventilated properly. Can you imagine if you were kept in a room with twenty or thirty other people for days without showering or ventilation, you might be very uncomfortable with the odor built up in the stagnant room air. Remember the health of your chickens reflect on the producing of good eggs and large eggs.

The open air front design has another benefit it is a simple design for the builder and it is an enclosed habitat the offers better protection from predators when enclosed with chicken wire. This open air design allows for the easy up keep of the area with easy access and it provides all the essentials we spoke of earlier to keep your chickens happy, healthy, clean, and parasite free. I would recommend building a chicken coop using the open air design for anyone who is looking for an easy answer for their coop needs.