Customer Reviews

Building Chicken Coops For Dummies

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For <$20 one gets chapters on where to build, how to build, what materials, lots of info on general carpentry and 5 coop plans. It's written by 1) a do-it-yourself writer, 2)an owner of Horizon structures and 3)the co-author of the excellent companion book, 'Raising Chickens For Dummies".

Building a chicken coop is very personal. I've scanned the internet endlessly. There are tons of plans, a few graciously offered freely, but most you have to pay for the so-called schematics. I know what I want in a 'home': 3 chickens, easy clean, well protected-weather and pest, room for me to go inside the run, easy access to nest, cute appearance. Absolutely must contain slideout drip pans for fast cleanout! That's me.

The 5 plans are at different skill levels and needs:
1)the Minimal Coop- box shaped with single, sloping roof, simple hinged door, ~4'X4'X4', no adjoining run, good it states for 4-5 birds. Price tag ~$200 for building supplies. Easy;
2)the Alpine A-frame- 4'wide X 10'long X ~4'tall,, 2 nest boxes, screened run with door, 2-4 birds, looks cute, ~$300, not too hard, but you do have to cut some simple angles;
3)the Urban Tractor- 3'X6' with peaked roof 5', 2-3 birds, 16 sq.ft. run, tow chains to pull around the yard(put wheels on!), ~$400, looks neat and tidy; will take some work to build but totally doable for a novice like me;
4)the All-in-One(my choice & a similar version pictured on the front cover)- 8'X4'X7'tall, 4-6 birds(I prefer 3-4), one can enter the shelter and the run through short doors 3 1/2- 4' tall, 3 boxes, A real sloping roof(shingle it), ~$750 cost, add wheels and removable drip pan, nice doors, a small window, it'll take a few weekends to make unless you're Joe the Builder.
5) and finally, the Walk-In- 8X8X9'tall, 30 chickens?, 10 boxes, no run given, $1000, need some skills or help.

The designs are well done, easy to follow with step by step instructions. They list the materials needed, give lots of Tips and Warnings as expected by Dummies. They also include a few chapters on doing things differently: like water supply, electicity, storage spacefeeders, removable drip pans- highly recommended, retractable roof, automatic doors, etc. These are stated with general suggestions, not actual specific plans.

The book itself is larger in size than 'Raising Chicken for Dummies' which makes it easier to lay out. Very readable.

I'm not a carpenter. I have very few building skills; however, last summer, I dove in and constructed an A-frame treehouse on stilts from Stile's 'Treehouses and Other Cool Stuff'(see my review). It was a lot of fun and hard work, and a great learning experience. The plans here are much more comprehensive than Stiles' basic but adequate diagrams/instructions.

You will need some basic tools: circular saw, jig saw, drills, level, square, etc. They mention that a table saw and miter saw sure would be great, but you don't necessarily need them. Just take your time and have fun. Even if you don't use or like their specific plans, the rest of the book is immensely helpful. If building the coop is frustrating or too bothersome, just carefully choose and buy one, and enjoy your chickens!

My husband and I bought this book and built the largest coop (8x8). One would expect plans this detailed to have correct measurements, but unfortunately this is NOT the case. To spend over $1000 on supplies to find that the plans are wrong is painful. My husband caught most of the errors as we built, and there were MANY! Moreover, the design doesn't function! The door was not only wrong in measurement, but in concept as well, and had to be torn apart and redesigned, wasting valuable time. The hatch door that opens to allow gathering eggs from the outside seemed cool, but was also wrong in both measurements and design concept. We have felt like the brunt of a very bad joke and have realized that we were dummies to trust this author; perhaps there was a double meaning in the title. As for all the great reviews, if we had not actually APPLIED the information and built using the design published, we'd have thought it was a great book, too!

I found this book to be extremely helpful!

I have scoured the internet and all the chicken books I could find, looking for a book that told me HOW to build a chicken coop. Finally, I found it! I currently have chickens and a small coop. But I want to build a larger, walk in coop. I checked into the costs to have someone build it for me and was shocked! How hard could it be right? Well, armed with this book, you will be well on your way.

It gives you details on how to build everything from a chicken tractor to an A-frame to a walk in coop like I wanted. It offers all the details for the important components of a coop: roosts, nesting boxes, etc. And walks you through important considerations like: What would make the coop easier for you? What about electricity? Water? Location? All the important aspects we need to think about before making that first lumber cut.

Now, I see a few people felt the book had too much carpentry info. Well I disagree. That is preciously what I love about this book! Remember, it is a book for "Dummies" and that means it covers all the BASICS! Being a novice builder myself, I am happy that this book not only tells me what materials I need, why I need them, how they should be used, but it also tells me exactly HOW TO build the coop. And that for me is golden!

Building Chicken Coops for Dummies is a great book for anyone thinking of constructing a home for their flock. It is thorough, well written and provides the confidence to tackle this project on your own. I highly recommend it.

I found this book to cover all the basics, not only what your chickens require; but, also what you'll need to build a basic coop. It covers the basic carpentry skills and tools needed to build 5 coops; from the Minimal to the Walk-In; suitable for small flocks. Not only that, it also explains the why's for each aspect of construction and use of tools.

As for your chickens, if you follow the suggestions in the book, you'll have a happy flock. Roosts, nest boxes, ramps, lighting, ventilation are all covered in detail; as well as suitable materials for each.

The plans given are very basic, so if your looking for a coop with a bit more style such as Victorian or Country Cottage you won't find it here. However, with the information in this book, you can easily use a shed or playhouse plan and using the information in the this book, adapt the plan for chickens.

Overall it's a good baisc book with a lot of information for the backyard coop builder.

We're new to chicken coops and many things construction. I sat down with my dad and we read through the book. There were a number of plans and we eventually decided to slightly modify the plan showed on the cover, but with the directions provided it was very easy for us to do that. Dad and I are very mathematically oriented, but not so construction oriented so we really needed a book like this. If my dad had not come by to help, I would simply have done the coop on the cover and I feel pretty confident that I could have done it myself. The equipment lists were absolutely a life saver. It took us (emphasis on him) about two weeks to buy the material, build the coop and take days off to go golfing and shopping with my mom.

I must admit I looked for hours on the internet for free coop plans and while there were some cool looking chicken coops out there, nothing I found had the level of detail I needed to make a chicken coop beyond a one or two chicken project. I am not the kind of person who can see a picture of something and make it. I need detailed, step by step instructions which was exactly what this book provided. I really liked the variety of options available since many people may want to select a different size coop than I did and the pros and cons are very honestly listed.

I really can't say enough good things about this book. We found a similar (but not identicle) coop to the one we made for commercial sale and it cost about 5 times what it cost us to make this coop. I am in the process now of painting the coop because I've decided that before I move the chickens in, it's essential that the coop match the house, but all in all this has been a fun family project and I look forward to a new hobby as a result of it. Were we not able to make this coop ourselves, I would not have paid for the commerically available coop and probably would still by debating on whether or not to get chickens.

My neighbor was nice enough to give me this book. I built the largest all-in-one. The measurements are correct, but you have to measure twice cut once. I saw a bad review on this coop plan. It does have its failings, but all in all it works really well and is in my yard. The issue with the egg door is the design of the wall not the door. The wall for the door does not give you all the measurements. I checked the door and the wall and it all fit together. I did have to check more things than I wanted. It was really good on the amount of lumber and cut sheet except for the 1x3s. I needed twice as much, but triple to do the trim like I wanted. At the end of the day, the framing was easy, the rafters were hard, the skinning was easy, and it gave me lots of help on how to keep the barn working inside. Had to dock a star for making me think so hard, but everyone who sees the pictures of my coop online are in shock at how great it turned out.

There's nothing at all wrong with this book. I would have liked to have seen more plans and a little less basic carpentry. If you have never built anything this book should be helpful but if you already have basic carpentry skills you can skip it and still do just fine.

I thought this book would be great-- I only have a few basic carpentry skills so I would consider myself a "Dummie" when it comes to building chicken coops. We decided to build the Alpine A-Frame, and found the directions to be awful. Pictures weren't clear, measurements were off, and the actual instructions were complicated and unclear and difficult- certainly not fit for a novice builder.
What irritated me was that the whole point was to be easy, obviously easy enough for a "dummie" , and was supposed to take "a few days". Well after about two months we finally have it done, but it wasn't easy. I would not reccomend this book.

We were given a few chicks as a gift so we needed a small coop on short notice. We looked at online plans and through this book at a local book store. My wife liked the size and some of the features of the Urban Tractor design, but we wanted it more open with less covered roof. I also felt it was too low to the ground, the area under the house where the chickens are supposed to escape the weather would have only been 12"-15" high and the run was only ~36" high. We elected to raise everything 3".

There were a few dimensional errors, but I caught them. The big omission or error with the Urban Tractor design is that there are only two end gables, one on the outside of the house and the other at the end of the roof at the end of the run. If it is built this way the inside of the hen house only has a half wall. A fox or raccoon could easily dig under the run, then climb into the hen house even if the doors are closed. Enclosing the upper portion in wire would offer some protection, but it wouldn't be a warm hen house in the winter.

So I moved the gables to both ends of the hen house and ran a few rafters to support the gables for the open portion of the run. I added vents to both gables and insulated the walls, then enclosed them with 1/4" plywood for solid walls. The floor under the house was also insulated and enclosed. This will keep the chickens warm in the winter.

Other small omissions include no mention of adding roosting perches inside the hen house or in the run, but the chickens need the perches to roost on at night and it helps keep them cleaner.

For the money and time invested, I would probably just buy a complete chicken tractor from one of the reputable and highly-recommended online sources. It would have been about $400 more, but I have significantly more time invested in the construction than that.

A must have for anyone even thinking about building a chicken coop, from the plans to the tips on using tools, it was perfect.