If you look around on the internet you’ll find plenty of advice on building chicken coops. There is advice from every type of coop, cage and hutch you can think of – from the small to the large there is a plan, design or article geared toward helping you build one.

A chicken coop, if you haven’t already discovered, isn’t a very complex dwelling. But like anything that you’ll house a living creature in, it should be built the right way. Your birds, after all, rely completely on you for their safety and well being.

So it does warrant some level of experience or expertise to put into a coop, cage or hutch, the right features. Not only the right features that are needed for a well constructed chicken house but features that are built the right way with the right materials.

You can go as cheap as you want and ignore all the advice that’s out there and you will have a coop of some kind in the end. Now I don’t know about you, but I hate doing the same thing over again especially if it’s because I took a shortcut, instead of doing it right the first time.

Some people are really good at building and all you have to do is describe what you’d like built and they’ll build it just how you pictured it in your mind. Then there are the rest of us, who need a set of instructions that not only tell how to put something together but in what order it should be put together in.

If you are not one of those people who was born with a hammer in their hand, you may want to think twice about brushing off all the chicken coop sages out there giving away their advice.

Granted some of the information available may not lead you in the right direction, but there is an awful lot of really good information, free information to boot, available on the internet. There are several really good forums where members share their advice and experience that you can draw from, or you will also find lots of great articles on online, that will point you in the right direction.

It’s really a matter of what you want to do and your experience level. If you are like I was when I first started, then you really don’t need someone to guide you every step of the way, but still need some good information to keep you on the right path. Then doing a little research on your own will probably get you what you need to build and excellent chicken coop.

If you have never picked a hammer up but are just chomping at the bit to build your own coop, taking your first steps toward self-reliance, then a set of plans can be had for a fairly low price. A good set of plans will guide you along and help you avoid spending to much money on material or having doors that won’t shut, windows that don’t open or a leaky roof.

Having and raising chickens is one of the most fun and rewarding hobbies there is and not only because of the eggs and meat you get, but also because of the piece of self-reliance you gain by learning a skill that you’ll have the rest of your life.

If you have a coop, cage, hutch or some other chicken house that is poorly constructed I guarantee it will be no fun raising your chickens because you’ll be dealing with sick birds, predators and fixing what’s wrong instead of enjoying your birds.