How to Build Chicken Coops: Everything You Need to Know

Plan, customize, and build the perfect home for your flock, brood, or clutch.

Licensed by the National FFA Organization, our acclaimed series of How to Raise guides has helped countless first-time animal owners confidently care for their new companions. How to Build Chicken Coops provides complete, thorough, and easy-to-follow instructions on building a coop. More importantly, it provides answers so chicken owners don't have to waste time searching online for advice.

If you are involved in the FFA, interested in starting an urban or suburban hobby farm at home, or just curious about the country living or urban farming lifestyle, raising chickens is a great way to get started without a substantial investment of time or money. Building your own coop allows you to customize it to meet your needs—and it will save you money too!

How to Build Chicken Coops is not just a collection of plans, but a compendium of the background and insider information for chicken owners. How much space will you need? What is dust bathing? How many nest boxes and windows will your coop need? How much will it cost? What steps do you need to take to keep your chickens safe from predators?

All of these questions, and many more, are answered in How to Build Chicken Coops. This book takes the guesswork out of building a coop that's just right for your flock of chickens.

Samantha Johnson (Phelps, Wisconsin) and her brother, Daniel, have collaborated on a number of rural-living guidebooks, including How to Raise Rabbits and Beginner's Guide to Beekeeping. Both are 4-H alumni and live on the family farm, Fox Hill Farm, in far northern Wisconsin. Samantha is a certified horse show judge and raises purebred Welsh Mountain ponies and Dutch, Holland Lop, and Netherland Dwarf rabbits.

Daniel Johnson is a professional photographer who specializes in imagery of farm life. He is the author of the 4-H Guide to Digital Photography and the coauthor of The Field Guide to Horses. He lives on a family-owned horse farm in Phelps, Wisconsin, called Fox Hill Farm (www.foxhillphoto.com).