Chicken coops, even in urban areas, are becoming a common sight. After all, nothing beats organic fresh eggs from free-range chickens that you grow yourself. The rewards are well worth the aggravation of building one. They are relatively easy to put up but there are, of course, already pre-made structures that you just have to unfold and spread on your backyard if you feel not handy enough for the task. Whether built from scratch or bought from stores, make sure that your chicken coops have the following qualities.

Chicken Coops Tips for Building (or Buying)

1.    Chicken coops should have enough space for the number of chickens you plan to raise. Chicks can manage 3 to 4 square feet each of living space, whereas maturing ones need up to 10 square feet each. You also need to consider that you will have to get into the coop for regular maintenance. If you make it easy to get in and get out of the structure, you will make it easier for yourself to clean the coops and prevent disease from spreading. Chicken manure is strong with ammonia, and if you don’t deal with them as often, your chickens are likely to suffer from respiratory problems. You can address your lack of space inside the coops with chicken runs to allow more mobility to your brood.

2. Chicken coops should also be made of sturdy materials that can withstand elements for a long time. The chickens should be protected from severe weather, gusts of wind and torrential rain. This ensures the health of your brood whatever the season.

3. Chicken coops need to accommodate watering and feeding trays. The size of your trays should be proportional to the number of chickens you maintain. For example, a two-gallon chicken waterer is enough for half a dozen chickens. Food trays, which should be removable for easy cleaning and maintenance, should be kept six to eight inches off the ground. A chicken waterer should also be of the same height or lower.

4. Chicken coops should have a nesting area located in the darkest portion of the structure. Line it with straw, hay or wood chips and replace once a week.

5. Chicken coops should allow enough light to come in and enough openings for ventilation. Chickens need to be exposed to the early morning sun, so your pens should have appropriate windows for the warmth to filter in. The windows should also be strategically placed such that they will allow sufficient movement of air to cleanse the chicken coops of smell (particularly ammonia).

6. Chicken coops need to be movable. At best, they should be easy to transport to another place should your chickens need a fresh patch of grass and earth to scratch up. Some coops are built with compact measurements to allow for mobility, while some bigger ones that are intended for maturing hens are outfitted with wheels.

7. Chicken coops should be designed and built with easy maintenance in mind. Egg trays can be placed above removable poop trays so manure can easily be disposed of and trays hosed off without too much fuss. Chicken coops that are easy to maintain translate to healthier and happier chickens.

Raising backyard poultry entails not only building chicken pens but DIY chicken waterer too. For a healthier flock, your chickens do not just need protection from the elements, sufficient nutrition (which they can get from your vegetable garden beds if you have one), and enough space to run around, but equally important, clean water too. You can buy commercial chicken waterers or build a cheaper DIY chicken waterer yourself. It is quite simple enough to do.

DIY Chicken Waterer Guide

1.    Determine the number of DIY chicken waterer you need. A three-gallon waterer is good for a full day for about half a dozen chickens. The commercial variety is in the neighborhood of $20, but a DIY chicken waterer would only cost about half as much,and sometimes even less. You can opt for a bigger five-gallon bucket but that might be unwieldy if you need to move the bucket around. You may also need to consider the size of your chicken pen: The standard 2- or 3-gallon bucket looks more feasible in limited spaces.

2.    Choose buckets and pans that have not been used for other (toxic) purposes, to avoid poisoning your chickens. You also would need an oil pan for your DIY chicken waterer with a diameter bigger than the lid of your bucket and with a depth of more than two inches. Make sure that the oil pan has not been greased or it has been thoroughly cleaned.

3.    Drill holes into your bucket. To do this, you need to have a bucket with a tightly fitting lid. Without filling the DIY chicken waterer yet, put the lid on, and place the bucket upside down on the oil pan. Mark the height of the oil pan around the bucket so you know the maximum water level. You need to drill holes that are one inch below the water mark when the bucket is placed upside down on the oil pan (or one inch above the water mark when the bucket is right side up).

4.    Fill the container with water. Then, cover it with a tightly fitting lid and flip it upside down (this is the reason why you need to have a manageable bucket size) so the water starts flowing out of the holes and into the oil pan. Now you have a DIY chicken waterer. The principle is to keep the water flowing until it submerges the holes on the perimeter of the bucket. As long as the holes are under water, the vacuum pressure inside the bucket will prevent excess water from coming out. Water will only start flowing out again once the water level in the oil pan is below the holes. This cycle continues until all of the water has been drunk or dried up.

5.    Repeat the process for every six chickens or so. You can have one DIY chicken waterer for your entire flock, but expect that there will be competition for water and that you will replace water more frequently than if you have several other DIY chicken waterer. You can buy a more unwieldy water gallon, maybe a 5-gallon bucket, so you don’t replenish water as frequently. As long as you can manage to handle the DIY chicken waterer by yourself, a 5-gallon bucket is optimal.

Nothing beats fresh eggs scooped out of your chicken coops every morning. Even better, nothing tastes better than organically-grown, free-range chicken you can harvest when the mood strikes. Given the long list of benefits you can derive from growing chicken in your backyard (like saving on your grocery bills and having your own compost source), you should find building chicken coops and raising poultry worthy of your time and energy. But to ensure your chickens are happy and healthy (that is, before they are slaughtered for dinner), you need to build a comfortable chicken condo where they can grow plague-free.

Good Chicken Coops Design Tips

However you design your chicken coops, perhaps from simple A-frames to more complex, multi-tiered shelters, they should have these important elements to ensure your flock is well-protected and in the best of health.

1.    Streamlined clean-up process. Chicken coops should be designed with streamlined clean-up process in mind because you as a farmer will be there (to clean) inasmuch as your chickens will be there to live. The less inclined you become with the clean-up task, the more your chickens will suffer from your neglect. A large set of door on either side allows for easy entry and exit (for the farmer). A removable “poop tray” in chicken coops goes a long way in cleaning up chicken manure with minimal fuss: The manure can be easily disposed of, the tray hosed down and dried up and placed back under the roost.

2.    Adequate space. The size of your chicken coops is determined by the number of chickens you want to keep. Since you are likely to start small, consider allocating 3-5 square feet per chicken (10 square feet is optimal) so they’ll have plenty of space to move about even as they grow. When your chickens cram the chicken coops, they are not likely to grow to their potential size. More important, they are likely to ‘soil’ themselves with not enough space for air to circulate and deodorize the place.

3.    Sufficient ventilation. Adequate breathing space is crucial not just for the chicken farmer who cleans the chicken coops, but for the chickens themselves. In poorly ventilated structures, chickens can get easily sick because of pollutants in the air that lingers due to absence of circulation. Ammonia from chicken droppings can cause respiratory problems to your flock and may even make them go blind.

4.    Ample lighting. Chicken coops have to be built with east-facing windows so chickens can enjoy warmth early in the day. The longer your chickens are exposed to sunlight or even artificial light source (like fluorescent bulbs), the happier they will be with egg-laying duties.

5.    Sturdy protection from the elements. Ensure that your chicken shelter is made of durable materials that can warm your poultry in cold months, protect them from strong winds and torrential rains, and fend them off from predators. You may also need to move your chickens every now and then, which is all the more important for chicken coops to be made of materials that will hold up even with frequent and rough handling.

Chicken pens may look out of place in urban or suburban milieu, but these backyard fixtures are no longer contraptions of rural life, given the increasing number of people getting more conscious of the quality of eggs and chicken meat they consume. Chicken pens can be practically built anywhere, even in a backyard with limited green space. It’s all a matter of design: You can either do them yourself, or buy pre-made chicken pens from poultry farms. The rewards of having them in your backyard far outweigh possible inconveniences – like the smell of manure or the incessant clacking chickens make – they might present. Here are some of the rewards of making chicken pens a part of your backyard landscape.

Chicken Pens Benefits

1.    Fresh, organic eggs. On average, it takes two or more weeks for eggs to hit the produce aisle from the time of their harvest. Layers are also likely to be loaded with hormones so they can produce more eggs than their natural cycles would permit. By building your own chicken pens, you can glean fresh eggs everyday without ‘contamination’ from hormone-boosters.

2.    Tastier meat. Among organic chicken farmers, the consensus is that poultry meat gleaned from free-range settings or backyard chicken pens taste far better than chickens raised in industrial poultry. They say organic chicken meat need not be loaded with artificial flavorings to bring out its authentic chicken taste. This was how chickens were raised in the past; breeds were preserved for their flavor and hardiness and not for their fast-growing characteristics.

3.    Free fertilizer. Chicken manure is an excellent source of organic fertilizer because it is nitrogen-rich. Chicken pens can be moved from one area of the backyard to another so organic matter is scattered across the lawn, fertilizing grass that will in turn feed chickens. Even if you don’t have a vegetable patch, you can always donate chicken manure to local nurseries or community gardens.

4.    Biological pest control. Chickens have natural prey. Worms, cockroaches, bugs, aphids, grubs, and even mice, are all chicken food. These are their natural protein source which they need in abundance because of their active lifestyle, as far as free-range chickens go. Even if your poultry is placed in movable chicken pens, the enclosure can always be moved to a fresh patch of soil so chickens can scratch and eat off the ground. Chickens are increasingly beneficial if you have a vegetable garden because of their symbiotic relationship. The leafy patch and resident pests can be the chicken’s source of food, and chicken manure will be your vegetables source of nutrients.

5.    Food security at the local level. Food need not be imported from several miles away. The United States’ local food movement is gaining ground, and in Australia, the number of community gardens and backyard chicken pens is increasing. A lot of people have realized the immense benefits of growing their own food outside the kitchen door: they cut their produce bills in half; they get adequate nutrition; and they can cook whenever using whatever is in the backyard. Since there is diminished dependence on outside food, the need for transporting food also decreases, reducing carbon emissions. So on a larger scale, vegetable gardens and backyard chicken pens are not only cost-saving measures to secure organic produce, but also exemplary efforts towards preserving the environment.

Chicken coops are increasingly becoming a backyard fixture. Even in urban areas where space is scarce for both humans and animals, chicken coops are growing in number. This may have to do with the local food movement, our increasing environmental awareness for organic meats, a steady source of protein, and significant savings on groceries. In the same way that building your own backyard vegetable garden ensures food supply at-hand, chicken coops ensure protein source security. Fresh eggs and grain-fed poultry are the leading benefits of raising your own flock in the backyard, but there are other equally significant benefits to raising your own poultry.

Chicken Coops Benefits

1. Better quality protein source. Meat harvested from livestock and poultry raised in industrial conditions is less tasty compared to meat grown in the backyard under humane conditions. The rising demand for meat-based protein has led to growing livestock and poultry in a massive scale, and this in turn affects the methods of raising them. Industrial chicken coops often house more chickens than recommended to save space and resources. Chickens are also injected with a whole range of chemicals to boost their growth and achieve marketable weight in a short time. As a result, chicken meat tastes bland and contains trace amounts of harmful toxins. When you grow your own chickens in backyard chicken coops, you can ensure organic quality as long as you feed them with protein sources you can find locally.

2. Fertilizer source. Because chickens eat protein sources they can find in your micro-ecosystem, vegetable garden included, their manure tends to be high in nitrogen (as opposed to manure from industrial poultry). The manure you collect from the chicken coops or the runs (the fenced area outside the coop) can be composted to serve as organic matter in your vegetable beds.

3. Natural pest control. Chickens are predators, too. They feed on cockroaches, tomato horn worms, aphids, bugs, grubs and other pests that may flock into your vegetable garden. These are rich protein sources for them, which means you need not buy commercially-prepared protein concentrates. The garden bed-chicken coops cycle is fairly easy to maintain so you avoid using pesticides and enjoy organic harvests from your backyard.

4. Recreation. In the same way that canine and feline pets provide comfort and company, chickens too are a non-conventional source of amusement. Chicken farmers observe that they, too, have personalities, much in the same way that dogs and cats have. Children can be taught to feed and water them, while seniors in retirement can repair chicken coops and make chicken-raising a productive pastime.

5. Local food movement. Building your own chicken coops is not just about saving grocery money or raising your own protein source. Collectively, growing chickens locally can be an integral component in the local food movement, where your community need not import food from hundreds of miles away. Since food is exchanged in a smaller scale, fuel consumption is diminished, and greenhouse gases are mitigated. Creating your backyard chicken coops is apparently not just money-saving, but environmentally-friendly too.

Building backyard chicken coops is increasingly popular, not only in small farms but more so in urban areas, because nothing beats fresh eggs and home-grown meat. While permanent coops have their own benefits, portable chicken coops are easier to manage if the brood is for household consumption. They are relatively simple to construct and easy to maintain, and afford a form of freedom for chickens even in a non-free-range setting. The following list discusses the numerous benefits you get from growing your own chickens and installing your own movable chicken coops and runs.

Building Your Own Chicken Coops Guidelines

1.    You get to grow your own protein source. Having your own chicken coops ensures you have continual supply of fresh eggs and organic meat. Large-scale poultry farms are likely to inject boosters to make the brood grow fast in a short amount of time. Growing your own poultry means you get insecticide-free meat with superb taste. Homesteaders grow chickens primarily for its taste: Free-range chickens raised in humane conditions tend to taste better than industrial poultry.

2.    You get to recycle your food scraps. You can supplement your chickens’ diet by leftover foods that will most likely end up as waste anyway. You reduce your chicken feed expenses and household waste when you raise your own poultry in backyard chicken coops.

3.    You get your garden trimmed for free. If you have a modest space filled with grass, there is no need to mow the lawn. Since greens are part of chickens’ diet, you can position your portable chicken coops in an overgrown patch. You can move them every few days so your poultry will have fresh grass every now and then.

4.    You fertilize your lawn for free. Your portable coops and runs afford chickens diverse hunting ground, which they soil from time to time. Instead of cleaning out permanent chicken coops, all you need to do with the movable variety is transfer them to a fresh patch. Your chickens will have a new source of food and another ground to fertilize.

5.    You keep your feeding expenses lower. Because your chickens will already have their fill from your backyard lawn, you will spend less on chicken food. You can supplement their grass and worm diet with grains and other protein-rich feeds that you can’t easily get from your backyard.

6.    You can move your chicken coops according to weather conditions. When it’s too hot, you can move them in cooler shades, or even indoors if there’s torrential downpour. You can position the coops wherever chickens will be most comfortable. The more they feel comfortable, the better they taste.

7.    Your chicken gets fresh air and freedom which they can’t get when kept in stationary chicken coops. Raising humane chickens result to better taste. Among homestead farmers, who have larger tracts of land with which to raise poultry, free-range chickens are preferred because of the quality of meat. If you are limited with space, portable chicken coops are the next-best thing to grow healthy and happy chickens.

This chickens4wealth review may be mistaken for a rave, because I totally love all that the package contains.  Backyard chicken raising has never been easier, thanks to chickens4wealth.

There are a lot of chickens4wealth reviews already posted on the internet, but mine is different because I have absolutely no prior knowledge about backyard chicken raising.  Chickens4wealth promises to teach how to raise chickens simply and effectively, and looking over the information provided, that does seem to be the case.  Chickens4wealth does not assume that the reader or viewer is already familiar with certain concepts, and in this regard, they have my thumbs up.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it can get when a DIY guide just starts talking about something that you are already supposed to know, but don’t.  I have watched chickens4wealth from end to end and that does not happen in any point of the tutorial.
Prior to purchasing my own package, I have looked up other chickens4wealth reviews online just to assure myself that I am spending my money on a good product.  Obviously, I have viewed enough chickens4wealth reviews to convince since as you can see, I have gone ahead and bought it.

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Nonetheless, I am very happy with my purchase and I have no intentions to avail of their generous risk-free money-back guarantee.
I was encouraged to look into the feasibility of backyard chicken raising for two reasons: one, I wanted my family to have access to nutritious, organic eggs at much less than supermarket prices; two, I have a prize-winning flower garden and I sure could use a continuous and cheap supply of fertilizer for amendments.  Some friends of our family, who are also avid gardeners themselves, swear that using organic compost from chickens is so much better than buying amendments from the gardening supply shop.  Since we do have enough backyard space, I went online and checked out resources that could help us get started.

Chickens4wealth is a comprehensive resource for chicken raising.  From the start, the tutorial helped me and my family adopt the right attitude towards the project.  Instead of focusing on the many complexities of tending to your poultry, the tutorial uses a commonsensical and competent manner that makes you believe that the project is achievable without too much difficulty.  And with the rich store of information, you are well-equipped to make various decisions.  It also helps that chickens4wealth even includes a step by step guide to preparing chickens for eating.
For all of its good presentation, chickens4wealth can only take you so far.  Prospective chicken raisers should be aware that raising chickens for profit or as a hobby still entails responsibility and some work.  However, chickens4wealth is definitely a valuable tool for ensuring that you exert the minimum amount of effort to achieve the best results.

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